News Analysis India

Tag: farmers protests

  • Lakhimpur violence: Video of black SUV running over farmers goes viral

    Express News Service

    LUCKNOW: While a video clip has gone viral and doing rounds on various social media platforms showing a black SUV apparently mowing down protesting farmers has added fuel to fire over the death of eight people including four farmers in Lakhimpur Kheri on Sunday, Union minister of State for Home Ajay Mishra has reportedly been summoned to Delhi.

    Highly-placed sources claimed that after the video went viral, Ajay Mishra would soon be going to Delhi as he had been reportedly summoned by Union Home Minister Amit Shah with full details on the Lakhimpur incident.  The minister would also be meeting senior leaders of Sangh Parivar and apprise them of all the developments which took place in Lakhimpur Kheri, said the sources.

    However, Mishra reiterated his son’s innocence in the case on Tuesday. He said that he would resign from his post if there was a single piece of evidence indicating his son Ashish’s presence at the spot of violence on the fateful day.

    “I will resign from minister’s post if a single proof surfaces of my son being present on the spot where the incident happened in Lakhimpur Kheri,” said Ajay Mishra while talking to media persons on Tuesday.

    ALSO READ: Lakhimpur violence: Autopsy of deceased farmers confirms death due to hemorrhage, trauma; no bullet injury found

    Eight people, including four farmers, had lost their lives on Sunday as violence had broken out during a farmers’ protest in Lakhimpur Kheri. Farmers’ outfits have claimed that a car carrying son of Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Mishra ploughed into the group of protesting farmers.

    Notably, in the FIR lodged against Ashish Mishra and 15-20 unidentified persons on the basis of the complaint filed by the protesting farmers, total eight Sections of IPC including 302 (murder), 304-A (rash or negligent act leading to death), 120 B (criminal conspiracy) , 338 (causing grievous hurt) , 279 (rash driving), 147, 148 and 149 for rioting and armed with deadly weapon, have been invoked against the accused.

    The FIR says: “Ashish Mishra alias Monu, accompanied by his 15-20 aides with loaded weapons and riding 3-4 four wheelers, came rushing to Tikunia in Kheri where the farmers had gathered.”

    “Ashish Mishra was sitting on the left seat in his Thar Mahindra vehicle which ran over the protesting farmers trampling them while he (Ashish) was firing with his weapon,” says the FIR. It adds: “Due to firing, farmer Gurvinder Singh, 22 years of age, received a bullet shot and died on the spot.”The number of the two vehicles allegedly used in the crime by the accused are also quoted in the FIR as UP31AS 1000 and UP32 KM0036. An unidentified vehicle is also mentioned in the FIR.

    ALSO READ: ‘Why the person who ran over farmers has not been arrested yet?’ Priyanka hits out at PM Modi

    Meanwhile, tweeting the video showing the SUVs running into the group of farmers with speed, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was in Lucknow on Tuesday, as to why the driver of the vehicle had not been arrested yet.

    Priyanka tweeted the video clip along with a message for the PM wherein she has questioned why the son of the minister was still out of police net while she was in police custody illegally for more than 30 hours without any warrant. The 29-second video clip, which also shows another vehicle following the SUV, has raised questions on the version of the incident by Union minister Ajay Mishra Teni who had claimed that the vehicle was attacked by farmers which led to the accident.

    Deependar Hooda tweeted from Sitapur : “Those who trampled farmers are roaming free while we are in custody for 36 hours. While victim farmers’ families are mourning the death of their dear ones, Utsav is going on in Lucknow.”

    Even BJP MP from adjoining Pilibhit Varun Gandhi also joined the opposition’s demand for a probe into the video, saying those responsible for deliberately ploughing through the farmers should be arrested.

    Aam Aadmi Party’s Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh tweeted the same video, raising questions about the minister’s claims. “It can be clearly seen in the video that farmers were mowed down but the Union minister’s son was saying that he was busy in a wrestling competition in the village.”

    Teni had claimed that his son Ashish Mishra, who is now booked for murder, was not present in the vehicle when the incident took place. He had said the protesters started pelting stones and attacked the vehicle after which the driver lost control and the vehicle ran over farmers.

    An FIR has been registered against Ashish Misra in connection with the violence.

  • Is crushing farmers, stifling Opposition voices new strategy of BJP? asks Sena MP Sanjay Raut

    By PTI

    MUMBAI: Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut on Monday wondered if crushing farmers and stifling the voice of opposition leaders who stand in their support was the BJP’s new strategy, a day after eight people were killed in violence that erupted during a farmers’ protest at Lakhimpur Kheri in Uttar Pradesh.

    Talking to reporters here, Raut said when a rape incident took place at Saki Naka in Mumbai (last month), the BJP raised a hue and cry, and “we (state government) did not stop anyone from going to the crime site”.

    “Farmers have been run over allegedly by the car of a minister’s son (in Lakhimpur Kheri). Where does such cruelty come from?” asked the Rajya Sabha member, whose party shares power with the NCP and Congress in Maharashtra.

    He said Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and other leaders were stopped (by the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh) from going to Lakhimpur Kheri to show solidarity with the farmers protesting over their demand for a repeal of the Centre’s three agri-marketing laws.

    ALSO READ: Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi on ‘hunger strike’ following detention

    “Does the BJP have a new strategy of crushing farmers and stifling the voices of opposition leaders who show solidarity with them?” Raut asked.

    Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaks about farmers’ interests, while state governments headed by the BJP “kill farmers” with cars being run over them, the Sena’s chief spokesperson claimed.

    Raut likened the Lakhimpur Kheri incident to the case of revolutionary Babu Genu, who was run over by a Britisher’s truck while protesting in Mumbai during the independence struggle.

    Speaking on former Sena MLA Subhash Sabne crossing over to the BJP to fight the upcoming Deglur Assembly bypoll in Maharashtra, Raut wondered if former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis was touring the state’s Marathwada region to take stock of farm distress due to recent heavy rains there or to induct a Sena leader into the BJP.

  • Plea against blockade: SC seeks replies of 43 farmers’ bodies, leaders on plea of Haryana govt

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court Monday sought responses from 43 farmers’ bodies and their leaders, including Rakesh Tikait, Darshan Pal and Gurnam Singh who are leading protests at Delhi borders against the farm laws, on Haryana government’s plea alleging that they have not been participating in talks with its panel to resolve the impasse over road blockade here.

    Haryana has moved the application in the PIL filed by a Noida-resident Monicca Agrawaal who has sought removal of blockade saying that earlier it took 20 minutes to reach Delhi and now it is taking over two hours and people of the area are facing hardships due to protests at the UP Gate on Delhi border.

    “Issue notice, Dasti (through messenger) as well,” a bench comprising Justices S K Kaul and M M Sundresh said while taking note of the plea.

    “Mr Mehta (Solicitor General Tushar Mehta), you have made around 43 persons as parties. How will you serve them,” the bench asked.

    Mehta said the farm leaders are necessary parties in the matter and he will ensure serving of notice on them and sought hearing of the plea on Friday, that is October 8.

    Mehta, representing the state, said that Haryana has set up a panel for holding talks with the protesting farm leaders who have refused to take part in talks intended to resolve the issue.

    “Let notice be issued so that they do not say that they had no reason to come,” he submitted.

    The bench has now posted the matter for further hearing on October 20.

    Haryana, in its plea, said that the state level panel was set up by it on September 15, 2021 to hold discussions with the farmers’ bodies but they refused to come forward for talks on September 19.

    “The Dharna on Sindu Border and Tikri Border is being organized by Sanyukt Kisan Morcha which is a body of number of Kisan Unions and the name of the parties for impleadment mentioned herein above are the office bearer/workers of various Kisan Unions therefore, are the necessary party to resolve the issue”, the plea said.

    ALSO READ | Farm laws have been stayed, what are you protesting against: Supreme Court to farmers’ body

    The bench had in an earlier hearing wondered by saying that how can highways be blocked perpetually.

    “The redressal of problems can be through judicial forum, agitation or through Parliamentary debates. But how can the highways be blocked and this is happening perpetually. Where does this end,” it had asked.

    It had also asked the Centre what was the government was doing in the matter.

    The Centre had said that it had convened a meeting with the protesting farmers and details have been mentioned in the affidavit.

    Mehta had the said the court should allow the petitioner to make the farmers union party to the petition, so that later they don’t say that they were not made parties in the matter.

    The bench had told Mehta that it is he who will have to move an application for making farmers representative party as the petitioner, a private individual may not know who their leaders are.

    On August 23, the top court had said that the Centre and Delhi’s neighbouring states should find a solution to road blockades on the national capital’s borders due to farmers’ protest.

    It had told the Centre why the government can’t find a solution to this problem as though farmers have the right to protest but at the designated places and due to the protests, inflow and outflow of traffic cannot be disrupted.

    The top court had said that this will have an impact on toll collection as well because vehicles will not be able to pass through due to the blockades.

    It had then ordered, “Solution lies in the hands of the Union of India and the concerned state governments.

    They have to coordinate to find a solution that when a protest takes place, roads are not blocked and traffic is not disrupted to cause inconvenience to the common people”.

    On March 26, the top court had issued notice to Uttar Pradesh and Haryana on the plea.

    The Uttar Pradesh government has said in its affidavit that continuous efforts are being made to remove the blockade at the Delhi-UP border and there at present about 141 tents and 31 ‘langars’ around the area, and the protestors have installed a platform on the flyover from where the leaders give speeches, a media house has also been made below the flyover.

    Similarly, the Haryana government also told the top court that protesters staging ‘dharna’ at Singhu border have been camping on about 6 kilometres stretch of lanes of NH-44 since November 27, last year.

    The farmers are protesting against passage of three laws-Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020 and Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020.

    Initially, the protests started from Punjab in November last year and later spread to Delhi, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh and some other parts of the country.

  • ‘It will take just 2 minutes…’: Purported video of MoS Mishra surfaces on social media ahead of Lakhimpur violence

    By PTI

    LUCKNOW: A purported video of Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Kumar Mishra in which he is heard warning agitating farmers that he would discipline them in “two minutes” appears to have angered farmers even before Sunday’s violent clashes in Lakhimpur Kheri.

    “Face me, it will take just two minutes to discipline you fellows,” the two-time BJP MP from Kheri is heard allegedly saying in the video.

    “I am not only a minister or a MP and MLA. People who know me even before I became a Parliamentarian know that I never run away from taking a challenge. The day I accept the challenge you all have to leave not only Palia (a place) but Lakhimpur itself,” he is heard saying in the video.

    Source said Mishra’s speech came in the backdrop of some farmers showing him black flags in Palia locality in his Kheri Parliamentary constituency where he had gone to address a public meeting there late last month.

    Since then farmers have been up in arms against him and on Sunday while protesting against the visit of Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya in Mishra’s native village Banbirpur violence erupted resulting in eight deaths, the sources said.

    Local farmer leader Gurmit Singh told a TV channel that on September 25, members of Krantikari Kisan union and Bhartiya Kisan Union had shown Mishra black flags following which the minister had allegedly threatened to deal with them.

    ALSO READ | ‘Remove MoS Ajay Mishra from Union Cabinet’: Samyukta Kisan Morcha writes to President Kovind

    He said upon coming to know about Maurya’s programme, the farmers sat on a dharna peacefully near the helipad where he was scheduled to arrive.

    When the farmers came to know that Maurya was coming by road, the farmers stood in protest at a three km stretch on his travel route in the course of which the dastardly incident happened the previous day.

    Singh alleged that Mishra’s son and his supporters “trampled farmers to death under wheels of their SUVs”.

    Farmer leaders had claimed that the minister’s son Ashish Mishra was in one of the cars which allegedly knocked down some protesters who were opposing the deputy CM’s visit.

    However, Ajay Mishra said he and his son were not present at the spot as alleged by some farmer leaders and he has photo and video evidence to prove it.

    Ajay Mishra had also claimed that extremist organisations like the Babbar Khalsa have infiltrated into the farmers’ protest An FIR has been registered against Ashish Mishra and others in connection with the incident.

    ALSO READ: BKU chief asks BJP workers not to visit UP’s rural areas as farmers angry

    Some criminal cases including that of murder were lodged against 61-year-old Ajay Mishra in the past but he was cleared by the court in those related to murder allegations.

    Starting his political innings as a panchayat member, Ajay Mishra was elected as BJP MLA from Vidhasan assembly seat in Lakhimpur Kheri district in 2012.

    The party nominated him for the 2014 Lok Sabha poll from Kheri seat which he won then and also in the last Parliamentary election in 2019.

    He was inducted in Prime Minister Narendra Modi cabinet in July last and given a key berth as Minister of State for Home.

    The saffron party projected him as a prominent Brahmin leader and organised several public meetings for him to drum up support in the upcoming state election.

  • Lakhimpur Kheir violence: BKU chief asks BJP workers not to visit UP’s rural areas as farmers angry

    By PTI

    MUZAFFARNAGAR: Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) national president Naresh Tikait has asked BJP workers not to visit the rural areas of Uttar Pradesh, saying farmers are angry over the violence that broke out in Lakhimpur Kheri on Sunday.

    Addressing a kisan panchayat at the BKU headquarters in Sisoli on Sunday night, he alleged that the BJP was trying to defame the farmers’ agitation by provoking violence.

    He asked the BJP workers not to visit the rural areas to avoid any untoward incident.

    The remarks came after eight people were killed on Sunday as violence erupted during a farmers’ protest, claiming the lives of both farmers and BJP workers ahead of a visit to Lakhimpur by UP Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya.

    Four of the dead were people in the cars, apparently a part of a convoy of BJP workers who had come to welcome the UP minister.

    They were allegedly thrashed to death.

    The four others were farmers, officials said.

    Lakhimpur violence: FIR against MoS Ajay Mishra’s son, several other persons as Opposition hits out at BJP

    Farmer leaders had claimed that the minister’s son Ashsish Mishra was in one of the cars which they alleged knocked down some protesters who were opposing the deputy CM’s visit.

    However, Ajay Mishra said he and his son were not present at the spot as alleged by some farmer leaders and he has photo and video evidence to prove it.

    Meanwhile, irate BKU workers staged a dharna against the Lakhimpur Kheri incident on Sunday night and blocked a road in Shamli district.

    The protesters submitted a memorandum to the Shamli district magistrate demanding action against Ashsish Mishra.

  • Farm laws have been stayed, what are you protesting against: Supreme Court to farmers’ body

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The three new farm laws have already been stayed, the Supreme Court said on Monday and asked a farmers’ body what is it protesting against when these legislations are not in place.

    A bench of Justices A M Khanwilkar and C T Ravikumar said where is the question of going on protest once a party has already approached the court challenging the validity of the laws.

    When Attorney General K K Venugopal referred to the Lakhimpur Kheri incident in which eight people were killed on Sunday, the bench said nobody takes the responsibility when such incidents happen.

    Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the bench that once the matter is before the highest Constitutional court, nobody can be on the streets on the same issue.

    The top court was hearing a plea filed by a farmers’ body protesting against the three new farm laws and seeking directions to authorities to allow it to stage ‘satyagrah’ at Jantar Mantar here.

    ‘Kisan Mahapanchayat’, the farmers and agriculturists body, and its president have also sought directions to the concerned authorities to provide space to at least 200 farmers or protestors of the body at the Jantar Mantar for organising peaceful and non-violent ‘Satyagrah’.

    The bench, which posted the matter for hearing on October 21, transferred to itself the plea, which was filed by the farmers’ body before the Rajasthan High Court challenging the validity of the three farm laws.

    Several farmer organisations are protesting against the passage of three laws — The Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020 and Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020.

    Initially, the protests started from Punjab in November last year and later spread mainly to Delhi, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh.

  • Khattar asks Haryana’s BJP Kisan Morcha to ‘pick up sticks’ against protesting farmers

    By ANI

    CHANDIGARH: Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Sunday asked the state unit of BJP’s Kisan Morcha to ‘pick up sticks’ and to use ‘tit for tat’ methodology against the protesting farmers.

    Addressing the unit here, Khattar asked them to form volunteer groups of 700-1000 farmers at different places of the state.

    “Do not worry…when you remain there (in jail) for a month, three months or six months, you will become big leaders, your names will be etched in history,” he said.

    The Chief Minister, referring to the impact of the ongoing farmers’ agitation, said that the problem is limited to the northern and western districts of Haryana, while it is not as much in the southern districts.

    Notably, Khattar also said that if a protest has to be suppressed, it can be done through one government order, but those protesting are “our own people and not enemies”.

    Mentioning that there have been several amendments to the Constitution in the past too, the Chief Minister, while referring to the farm laws said that if any lacunae remain even after their implementation, the legislation can always be amended.

    Khattar called the ‘adamant approach’ of the farmers on the repeal of the laws incorrect, and said, “Even today, amendments (in the farm laws) can be done. But in a democratic setup, the approach to remain adamant is not right.”

    Farmers have been protesting at different sites since November 26 last year against the three enacted farm laws: Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020; the Farmers Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and farm Services Act 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.

  • Lakhimpur Kheri violence: Flights of Chhattisgarh CM Baghel, Punjab deputy CM denied permission to land in Lucknow

    Express News Service

    RAIPUR: The additional chief secretary of the UP government on Monday dashed off a letter to the director of Airport Authority of India (AAI) in Lucknow asking the officials to not grant any permission to the chief minister of Chhattisgarh and deputy CM of Punjab to land in the city.

    Following this, CM Bhupesh Baghel may alter his plan and instead proceed to the national capital, official sources said. The senior Congress leaders were scheduled to visit the families of those who died in the violence at Lakhimpur Kheri.

    At least eight persons, including four farmers, were killed when a farmers’ protest took a violent turn in Lakhimpur Kheri district, about 130 km from Uttar Pradesh state capital on Sunday.

    Earlier in the day, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and other Congress leaders were detained at Sitapur. Citing the law and order situation at Janpad Lakhimpur Kheri, the UP ACS Avnish Kumar Awasthi has asked the AAI director of the Choudhary Charan Singh International airport, Lucknow to refuse permission to the two senior Congress leaders to land today.

    “Section 144 is imposed at Lakhimpur Kheri but why are you stopping us to land in Lucknow. This move is nothing but to trample and suppress the rights of the citizens. The entire nation is watching how farmers are being ruthlessly dealt with by the BJP government”, Baghel asserted.

    In his letter the ACS told the director that the Lakhimpur Kheri district administration has imposed Section 144 of CrPC, following the incident on Sunday, October 3, 2021.

  • Lakhimpur Kheri violence: AAP demands CBI probe; Trinamool leaders to visit victims’ families

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Sunday demanded a CBI probe into Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur Kheri violence in which eight people, including four farmers, died after two SUVs allegedly ran over protesters.

    Delhi chief minister and AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal demanded that the perpetrators of “such a heinous crime” be given “strictest punishment”.

    The party’s MP Sanjay Singh also demanded that “strictest punishment” be handed down to the “killers”.

    He urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to withdraw the “three black farm laws” against which farmers have been protesting for the last 10 months.

    “A few days ago, (Union Minister of State for Home) Ajay Kumar Mishra had said in a statement that he would bring the protesting farmers on right track in two minutes. Today, as per reports coming to me, his son has killed three farmers mowing them down under the wheels of his vehicle.”

    “This incident is not of the Britisher’s India but the India of Narendra Modi, after 75 years of Independence, India of Yogi Adityanath, where the BJP is in power,” Singh said in a video message on Twitter.

    Mishra, however, has claimed that his son nor he was present at the site when the incident occurred.

    Three BJP workers and a driver were beaten to death by “some elements” in the protesting farmers in Lakhimpur Kheri after a car in which they were travelling turned turtle following pelting of stones, he claimed.

    The AAP leader said, “I appeal that Modi Ji should withdraw the three black laws and ensure that the killers of the farmers in today’s incident are arrested and be given strictest punishment. There should be a CBI probe into the incident in which three farmers were killed.”

    He also demanded compensation for the farmers injured in the incident.

    Kejriwal tweeted, “It is violent and unjust to crush protesting farmers under the wheels. There is news coming in about the killing of farmer brothers in the incident. May God rest their soul. I am with farmer brothers in this hour of grief.”

    “Culprits of such a heinous crime should be punished severely,” he added.

    Reacting to the incident, senior AAP leader and Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said the news about the “killing” of farmers in Lakhimpur is “extremely sad and heart-wrenching.”

    “The killers of the country’s ‘annadatas (food providers)’ should not be spared under any circumstances, no matter how influential they are,” he wrote on Twitter.

    Eight people were killed on Sunday as violence erupted during a farmers’ protest, claiming the lives of both farmers and BJP workers ahead of a visit to Lakhimpur by Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya, officials said.

    Two SUVs were set on fire by angry farmers in the clash near Banbirpur in Lakhimpur Kheri, the bloodiest incident of violence since the protest over the farm laws enacted at the Centre began last year.

    Four of the dead were people in the cars, apparently a part of a convoy of BJP workers who had come to welcome the UP minister.

    They were allegedly thrashed to death.

    The four others were farmers, officials said.

    Several people were hospitalised, according to the two sides.

    “I strongly condemn the barbaric incident in Lakhimpur Kheri. The apathy of @BJP4India towards our farmer brethren pains me deeply,” tweeted Banerjee who won the Bhabanipur by-poll defeating the BJP nominee by a huge margin earlier in the day.

    “A delegation of 5 @AITCofficial MPs will be visiting the families of the victims tomorrow. Our farmers will always have our unconditional support,” West Bengal CM and Trinamool supremo Mamata Banerjee added.

    TMC sources said the five leaders are Lok Sabha members Dr Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar and Pratima Mondal, and Dola Sen, Sushmita Dev and Abir Ranjan Biswas of the Rajya Sabha.

    The violence in Uttar Pradesh triggered outburst with opposition parties blaming the Yogi Adityanath government for the deaths.

    Assembly election is due in Uttar Pradesh in 2022.

  • Farmers’ protests: AAP demands punishment for violence in Lakhimpur

    By Express News Service

    NEW DELHI: The Aam Aadmi Party on Sunday reacted to the incident of Lakhimpur Kheri where protesting farmers were allegedly crushed to death by a minister’s son.

    “It is violent and unjust to crush the protesting farmers with a vehicle. There is news of the death of many farmers. The culprits who have committed such a heinous crime should be punished severely,” tweeted Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

    लखीमपुर में प्रदर्शन कर रहे किसानो को गाड़ी से कुचलना हिंसक और अन्यायपूर्ण है।कई किसान भाइयों के मारे जाने खबर मिल रही है। प्रभु उनकी आत्मा को शांति प्रदान करे। दुःख की इस घड़ी में किसान भाइयों के साथ हूँ।ऐसा घोर अपराध करने वाले दोषियों को सख़्त से सख़्त सजा दी जाय
    — Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) October 3, 2021
    The AAP has been completely supporting the demands of the farmers who are protesting around Delhi and other parts of the country, in hope that the Centre would listen to their demands.

    Scores of farmers are demanding the rollback of three controversial farm laws, which the AAP has stated should be taken back. “The news of the death of farmers in Lakhimpur heart-wrenching. The killers of the country’s food donors should not be spared,” said Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia.

    According to reports, Ashish Mishra, son of Ministry of Home Affairs Ajay Mishra, was allegedly involved in running over the protesting farmers with his car in Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur Kheri. Four farmers died as a result of the incident, which led to a huge outcry, the police said.

    The farmers were protesting against the Centre’s three farm bills ahead of an event in Tikunia, which is Union Minister Ajay Mishra’s paternal village in Lakhimpur Kheri. The party’s MP Sanjay Singh also demanded that “strict punishment” be handed down to the “killers”. He urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to withdraw the “three black farm laws” against which farmers have been protesting for the last ten months.