Lucknow: BJP chief Amit Shah ran into students waving black flags when he visited Allahabad on Friday to meet sadhus gathered at the Sangam for the upcoming Ardh Kumbh Mela before policemen cleared the way, hitting girls with batons and dragging them away.
Two female postgraduate students of Allahabad University - Rama Yadav and Neha Yadav - and a male protester, Kishan Maurya, were arrested and sent to Allahabad jail.
"They were arrested for disrupting the movement of a VIP and disturbing peace in the city," Sandeep Mishra, station house officer, Dhumanganj, told reporters.
Shah was headed to the Sangam site from the airport when the student activists showed up at several places along the 25km route. His convoy was around 10km from the point where the Ganga and the Yamuna meet when Rama and Neha suddenly stood in the middle of the road, forcing the pilot vehicle to stop.
The students accused the BJP government of promoting lynch mobs and anarchy in the country and waved black flags at Shah. They raised slogans against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath.
The state administration and the police did not seem to be prepared, with only policemen around to tackle the students. The cops cleared the road soon but not before they had thrashed even the women protesters with batons and dragged them by their hair.
The police detained many of the protesters but let most of them off except for Rama, Neha and Kishan. Neha, a student leader, has been taking up problems of students with the university authorities.
Shah later met over 400 sadhus of 13 akharas in the Sangam area and asked them what the government could do for a smooth organisation of the Ardh Kumbh Mela, which starts in January.
He offered prayers at several places, including at the Sangam, Bada Hanuman temple and the Maujgiri Shiva temple, and laid the foundation stone for a yoga centre.
Narendra Giri, president of the All India Akhara Parishad, said Shah was in Allahabad to take the blessings of the sadhus. #Earlier, BJP workers had damaged the glass at the entrance of Bamrauli Airport in Allahabad and barged in when security personnel tried to stop them from going inside to welcome Shah.