Protesting Anganwadi workers blocked Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi’s convoy in Gauriganj, Uttar Pradesh, while it was on its way to Lucknow on Friday, The Financial Express reported. The protesters, who were quickly dispersed by police personnel, were demanding an increase in their wages. The party leader met the protestors later and was handed a list of their demands on the last day of a three-day visit to his constituency of Amethi, NDTV reported.

Gandhi faced several other protests during his visit as well. Several locals accused the Congress leader of not visiting his constituency often enough. The BJP government had announced a hike in the minimum wage from Rs 246 to Rs 350 per day on August 30. In an attempt to get trade unions across the country to call off a nationwide strike on Friday, the government had also announced the release of pending bonuses to central government staffers.

The Anganwadi recruitment scheme is part of an initiative launched by the Indian government in 1975 to fight hunger and malnutrition among children. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had said that the anganwadi workers and mid-day meal workers cannot be regularised as the "nature of their work is voluntary". The anganwadi workers look after newborns, new mothers and provide pre-school education among other things.