Farmers Movement Archive

UP police stop Congress leaders heading towards Lakhimpur

JAIPUR: Congress leaders led by state party president Govind Singh Dotasra was stopped by UP police at the border in Bharatpur district’s Uncha Nagla area while marching to violence-hit Lakhimpur Kheri. After giving a sit-in, all the Congress leaders and workers marched on foot to the Uttar Pradesh border where there was a brief tiff with the Uttar Pradesh Police, after which the Congress leaders came back to the state border after burning the effigy prime minister Narendra Modi and UP chief minister Yogi Aditynath. Addressing a gathering at Uncha Nangla, Dotasra said farmers were killed in Lakhimpur Kheri and when Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi was heading there to express solidarity with the dead farmers’ families, she was detained by police. “We decided to go to Lakhimpur Kheri to express solidarity with the farmers. Those who murdered the farmers have not been arrested,” he said. “UP police misbehaved with Priyanka Gandhi. We strongly condemn it,” he said adding that "We condemn the UP government and also demand that the Union Minister should resign and his son should be arrested and punished." He said the Narendra Modi government at the Centre came to power by making false promises in 2014 and after five years, the government returned to power by using the bravery of the Army. The state education minister said PM Modi did not give an account of works he did in five years and returned to power by misleading people. Dotasra said farmers had been agitating for the last 10 months against the Centre's farm laws, but Modi and home minister Amit Shah have no time to meet them. “Who had demanded the laws? No farmer leader, no political party had raised the demand for the agriculture laws,” he said. Minister in-charge of Bharatpur and Congress chief whip Mahesh Joshi, former minister and sitting MLA from Deeg-Kumher Vishvendra Singh and other leaders of the party were present at the meeting. Eight people were killed in Lakhimpur Kheri violence on Sunday with four of them being farmers, who were allegedly knocked down by vehicles driven by BJP workers travelling to welcome UP deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya for an event in the area. The other four comprised two BJP workers, a driver of Union minister of state for home Ajay Kumar Mishra and a journalist working for a private television channel.

The Times of India

2021-10-08

Jaipur