Farmers Movement Archive

Lakhimpur Kheri killings: Farmers push for arrest of accused

BATHINDA: Sanyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) has stated that the Lakhimpur Kheri incident would be remembered as a painful chapter in the history of the farm movement of India. While digging up details from the past it has been observed that the incident did not happen suddenly, but the plot was hatched earlier and was part of the BJP’s plan to terrorise the people and discredit the ongoing farm struggle through violent means, the SKM said. SKM leader Darshan Pal on Saturday said, “Nefarious designs of the BJP started on September 25 when minister of state for home Arun Kumar Mishra use derogatory words for farmers. Haryana CM Manoharlal Khattar takes it forward when ask the party activists to form militias and indulge into tit for tat against farmers. Earlier the Karnal SDM Ayush Sinha acting on the orders of political masters ask policemen to break heads of farmers if they try to break cordons and move ahead. All this results into minister’s son Ashish Mishra crushing farmers to death at Lakhimpur Kheri on October 3”. “This incident has exposed the character of the BJP led Union and Uttar Pradesh government and the BJP itself. It is clear that the BJP has now turned to violence after losing ground in the face of the ongoing farm movement. The SKM has decided that it will respond to this violence through a peaceful and democratic mass-movement,” say SKM leaders. They added that Mishra should be sacked from union council of ministers and arrested on charges of spreading disharmony and conspiracy. “His son and associates, who have been accused of murder, should be immediately arrested, if the Union government has sympathy with farmers or it will be presumed that Narendra Modi-led government is clearly anti-farmer,” the farmer leaders said. Protest will intensify if no action by October 12: The Sanyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) is getting ready to strike back if the Centre doesn’t sack Union minister of state for home Ajay Mishra Teni by Monday and arrest his son, Ashish Mishra, for the incident in Lakhimpur Kheri, Uttar Pradesh, where a BJP car had crushed four farmers and a journalist. SKM bigwigs Rakesh Tikait, Yogendra Yadav, Joginder Singh Ugrahan, Darshan Pal, and Hanan Mollah said on Saturday that they will mark October 12 as ‘Shaheed Kisan Diwas’ by holding a memorial service for the five victims of Lakhimpur Kheri near the Tikonia village spot where they were killed. After this, a Shaheed Kisan Yatra will start from Lakhimpur Kheri with the mortal remains of those farmers. A separate urn will go to each district of Uttar Pradesh and every state. The yatras will conclude at a holy or historical place in every district and state on October 24. The farmers will burn the effigies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, home minister Amit Shah, UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath, and Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar) across the country on Dussehra (October 15). On October 18, they will engineer a 6-hour rail blockade from 10am to 4pm. On October 26, there will be a kisan mahapanchayat in Lucknow to mark 11 months of protests on the borders of Delhi. The farmers want it to be of the Muzzafarnagar scale. Farmer unionist Rakesh Tikait said the SKM had agreed to lift its last blockade on October 4 only to let the farmers be cremated, that too when the government had promised to compensate the affected families with money and jobs, hold a judicial inquiry, and arrest all the accused in a week. Tikait said: “The protests will continue until the repeal of farm laws and legal guarantee of minimum support price (MSP) for every crop to every farmer.”

The Times of India

2021-10-10

Amritsar