Farmers Movement Archive

Leaders slam Haryana cops for action on farmers during protest

Several politicians have slammed the police lathi-charge on a farmers’ protest in Haryana on Saturday.Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar has also received flak for defending the police action in Karnal, saying they promised a peaceful protest but hurled stones and blocked highways.Lashing out at the BJP-led Central and state government, Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rakesh Tikait compared the government with “Talibanis”.“Yesterday, an officer ordered (policemen) to hit farmers on their heads. They call us Khalistani. If you would call us Khalistani and Pakistani, we would say ‘Sarkari Talibani’ has occupied the country. They are Sarkari Talibanis,” said Tikait.Following the incident, a video went viral on social media, which was also tweeted by BJP MP from Pilibhit Varun Gandhi, in which Karnal sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) Ayush Sinha could be seen instructing policemen to “crack their (protesting farmers’) heads” to prevent them from breaching the security barrier.Demanding an inquiry into the incident, Haryana leader of Opposition Bhupinder Singh Hooda said police action “shows the anti-farmer mindset of the state government.’’ He added, “It was a pre-planned attack. First, the state government creates conditions for the clash with farmers and then uses undemocratic, inhuman and cruel means against them.”Also Read | Dushyant Chautala says use of such language by IAS officer ‘condemnable’Congress leader Rahul Gandhi called out police violence against protesting farmers in Haryana’s Karnal, tweeting that it was a ‘shame’ that the farmers have to “shed blood”.With a two-line tweet in Hindi, Gandhi shared a photo of a farmer who was injured in the protest. “Again the blood of farmers is shed. India bows its head in shame,” he wrote.Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said that the Khattar-led government was treating farmers like General Reginald Dyer (behind the Jallianwala Bagh massacre), refusing to allow them to protest peacefully against controversial farm laws.Punjab CM Captain Amarinder Singh too slammed his Haryana counterpart for “unleashing brazen brutality of the police on the peacefully protesting farmers, many of whom were injured in the lathi-charge,” news agency ANI reported.Meghalaya Governor Satya Pal Malik criticised CM Khattar and demanded an apology for the lathi charge on farmers.Swaraj India leader Yogendra Yadav hit out at the Haryana government. “They (farmers) were protesting against the visit of CM Khattar and other BJP leaders to Karnal. This is the true face of Haryana police,” Yadav tweeted.Haryana deputy CM Dushyant Chautala condemned the violence and promised action against SDM Sinha for his controversial instructions to police.

Hindustan Times

30-08-2021

India