Lakhimpur Kheri violence: Reaction to action, not murder, says Rakesh Tikait on BJP workers’ killing
Item
Title
Lakhimpur Kheri violence: Reaction to action, not murder, says Rakesh Tikait on BJP workers’ killing
Description
LAKHIMPUR KHERI: In a statement that stoked controversy, farmer leader Rakesh Tikait on Saturday said he does not think of the deaths of BJP workers as “murder” but as a “reaction” to Union minister Ajay Mishra Teni’s convoy running people over. “Who were the ones in the car that killed people? … It was a reaction to an action. There was no planning. Who do you call a culprit? Two cars collide, both drivers step out and fight on the street. What is that? That’s a reaction. It’s not murder,” Bhartiya Kisan Union spokesperson Tikait said at a press conference organised by the Samyukt Kisan Morcha, the umbrella body of protesting farmer organisations, in Delhi. When asked if he considers those who killed the BJP workers guilty, he responded, “Nahin maante doshi (I don’t accept they’re culprits).” Tikait has been leading the negotiations on behalf of farmers with the government since the violence on Sunday, in which four farmers, two BJP workers, a journalist and a driver were killed.
Publisher
The Times of India
Date
2021-10-10
Coverage
Bareilly