Farmers Movement Archive

Singhu lynching: Will upgrade security, say farmer unions

Facing flak over the gruesome killing of a man at the Singhu border, farmer leaders on Saturday said they will upgrade security by installing CCTV cameras and increasing the number of volunteers at the protest sites even as they asserted that the incident will have no impact on the agitation against the Centre’s three agri laws. Lakhbir Singh, a 36-year-old Dalit farm labourer, was lynched on Friday allegedly by a group of Nihangs who accused him of desecrating a Sikh holy book. His body was found tied to an overturned police barricade at the Singhu Border protest site, with the left hand chopped off and over 10 wounds caused by sharp-edged weapons. One Sarabjit Singh has been arrested and remanded in police custody for a week. The Samyukta Kisan Morcha, an umbrella body of farmer unions is spearheading the protests, issued a statement on Friday distancing itself from the incident and said that it wanted to make it clear that “both the parties to the incident”, the Nihang group and the victim, have no relation with the Morcha. Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU), which is leading the charge at Ghazipur on the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border, said more cameras would be installed and there shall be a change in the deployment of volunteers at the protest site in the wake of the Friday incident. “So far volunteers affiliated to local groups of farmer unions were deployed at the protest site to monitor the situation and coordinate security-related issues. But it has been decided now that such volunteers shall be deployed only by SKM at protest sites,” BKU’s media in-charge Dharmendra Malik told PTI. It was also decided that the groups or individuals who are participating in the movement but hold ideologies that are different from the SKM’s policies shall be asked to vacate the protest sites or adopt the agendas of the farmers’ collective, he added. Farmer leader Abhimanyu Kohar of Bharatiya Kisan Mazdoor Mahasangh, which is part of SKM, said that the farmers’ body stays proactive whenever such an incident occurs and revises its security details, if needed. Harinder Singh Lakhowal, general secretary of BKU (Lakhowal), alleged that the incident was a ploy to divert attention from the Lakhimpur Kheri incident.

Hindustan Times

17-10-2021

Chandigarh