The circular, issued on May 19, was also sent to the Director General of Police, all I-Gs, Deputy Inspector General (Range). It warns the district civil and police chiefs that ``failure to prevent movement of BSP workers from your district towards Lucknow will be viewed seriously by the state government''.

When contacted by The Indian Express, the Home Secretary said, ``It was the decision of the state government which I communicated to all the administrative units.''

Several BSP and Samajwadi Party leaders have criticized the government's circular calling it violative of fundamental rights. ``This is Emergency rule,'' said BSP leaderKanshi Ram.

The circular states: ``District administration is hereby directed to prevent movement of BSP workers from their respective districts to Lucknow on May 20 and 21. Movements of traffic and vehicles be regulated in order that the activities of BSP workers who plan a visit to Lucknow for the proposed assembly-cum-demonstration can be contained at the point of origin itself.

``Kindly keep a close watch on the activities of BSP leaders in your district so that they can be prevented from mobilising party workers for the proposed demonstration...It is imperative that crowd collection of BSP be dispersed at formation stage.'' This despite the fact that only the Lucknow district administration had promulgated prohibitory orders and there were no such orders elsewhere.