LUCKNOW: Priyanka Gandhi Vadra was stopped in Uttar Pradeshon Friday on her way to a village in Sonbhadra where 10 people were killed in ashootout this week over a land dispute. The Congress general secretary sat onthe road and protested until she was taken away in a government car to a guesthouse. Priyanka Gandhi, the Congress in-charge of eastern UP, was seen invisuals sitting on a road in Mirzapur near Sonbhadra, surrounded by hersecurity and Congress workers. "I only want to meet the affected families,whose members have been mercilessly shot dead. A boy of my son's age was shotat and is lying in hospital. Tell me on what legal basis I have beenstopped," Priyanka Gandhi told.She had landed this morning at Varanasi,the constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, where she went to a hospitalto see those wounded in the Sonbhadra massacre.

Later, as she headed for Sonbhadra 80 km away, reportsemerged that gatherings had been banned at the district. "I am sittingpeacefully, can someone please show me the order," she said at the spotwhere her convoy was stopped.As she was being taken away in a governmentofficial's vehicle, she said: "I don't know where they are taking me, weare ready to go anywhere."A police officer, Awadhesh Pandey, confirmedthat "Priyanka-ji" had been taken into custody.

At the guest house where she was taken, Priyanka Gandhi toldworkers: "I only wanted to go to Sonbhadra so that people there don't feelalone. I have been arrested and brought here but I will not leave this place tillI meet with the families." '

Her brother Rahul Gandhi called her "detention"disturbing. "The illegal arrest of Priyanka in Sonbhadra, UP, isdisturbing. This arbitrary application of power, to prevent her from meetingfamilies of the 10 Adivasi farmers brutally gunned down for refusing to vacatetheir own land, reveals the BJP government's increasing insecurity in UP,"he tweeted. Ten people were killed and over 24 injured on Wednesday when avillage chief, Yagya Dutt, and his associates, fired on a group of tribalfarmers who had refused to give up 36 acres of land they had tilled forgenerations. Witnesses said Yagya Dutt had brought nearly 200 men on 32 tractortrolleys to seize the land. The men fired at the tribals for over half-an-hourin one of the most chilling incidents the country has seen in recent times. Tillnow, 24 people have been arrested for the mass murder. A total of 78 peoplehave been charged, iThe day the incident took place, Priyanka Gandhi hadtweeted: "In the BJP ruled state, the confidence of criminals is so highthat broad day-light killings are continuously happening. The killing of 9 Gondtribesmen, including 3 women, by the land mafia in Umbha village of Sonbhadrais heart-wrenching. Administration and Chief Minister are all sleeping. Is thishow the state will become crime-free?"Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath todayhit out at the Congress. "The Congress governments in the past have providedprotection to land mafias and the Sonbhadra incident is an example ofthat," he said.

Priyanka Gandhi's decision to visit Sonbhadra was seen toindicate that she planned to keep an intense focus on UP in the run-up to statepolls in 2022.

This is the 47-year-old leader's second visit to UP sincethe national election, in which the Congress could manage just one of 80 seatsdespite a high-profile campaign by the Gandhi siblings.