Lucknow lit fest withdrawn after protest for Kanhaiya Kumar's presence

The presence of former JNUSU leader Kanhaiya Kumar along with his supporters have forced the Lucknow city administration to withdraw permission to the three day literature festival. 

The decision was taken after supporters belonging from the right wing camps protested the presence of Kanhaiya. 

Kanhaiya was invited to speak on his book "From Bihar to Tihar" at Sheros Cafe which is run by survivors of acid attacks.People belonging from the right wing school of thought raised slogans against Kumar's presence. 

Kumar's supporters were allegedly jostled by the protesters as slogans of "Bharat Mata ki jai" and "VandeMataram" rang out. Police were called in to control the situation.  The organiser, Shamim Aarzo, said, "We tried to placate them, police were called in to bring the situation under control.

Later, the session with actor-turned-politician Shatrughan Sinha was taken up according to the schedule,"  Whats surprising is the statement of District Magistrate Kaushal Raj Sharma who said that the organisers only sought permission for holding a book fare and that they were not aware that actors and leaders would be at the eventto deliver speech.    

"The conditions for granting permission have been violated by the organisers and therefore, we have withdrawnit," he said. "The Model Code of Conduct is in force in view of the upcoming local body elections and because we had no knowledge that leaders and actors had been invited to the festival, security arrangements were not made," he said.  

(With PTI inputs)