News Analysis India

Tag: Lakhimpur violence

  • Punjab farmers squat on rail tracks as part of SKM’s protest against Centre over MSP, Lakhimpur violence

    By PTI

    CHANDIGARH: Punjab farmers squatted on rail tracks at several places as part of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha’s nationwide stir against the Centre “reneging on its promises” made when the protest against now-repealed farm laws was withdrawn last year.

    Bhartiya Kisan Union (Lakhowal) general secretary Harinder Singh Lakhowal said trains will be stopped from 11 am till 3 pm in Punjab.

    The four-hour protest is likely to disrupt train movement in the state, causing inconvenience to passengers.

    The protesters squatted on rail tracks at several places, including Jalandhar, Phillaur, Ferozepur and Bathinda.

    The demands of the farmers include a legal guarantee for the minimum support price and justice in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence case, Lakhowal said.

    Eight people, including four farmers, were killed in Lakhimpur Kheri in violence that erupted when farmers were protesting against Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya’s visit to the area on October 3 last year.

    Union Minister Ajay Mishra’s son Ashish Mishra is accused in the case.

    Farmers are demanding the sacking of Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Mishra.

    They are also demanding the withdrawal of cases registered against farmers during the anti-farm laws protest last year, compensation to the families of farmers who lost their lives during the stir and rollback of the Agnipath recruitment scheme for the defence forces.

    About the panel on minimum support price formed by the Centre recently, Lakhowal said the government included in the committee officers and farmers who were in favour of the now-repealed farm laws.

    Bhartiya Kisan Union (Kadian) president Harmeet Singh Kadian, participating in the protest at Phillaur railway station, said the farmers were holding the protest on the call given by the SKM.

    Farmers said they were forced to squat on rail tracks as the Centre was “not listening to their demands”.

    CHANDIGARH: Punjab farmers squatted on rail tracks at several places as part of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha’s nationwide stir against the Centre “reneging on its promises” made when the protest against now-repealed farm laws was withdrawn last year.

    Bhartiya Kisan Union (Lakhowal) general secretary Harinder Singh Lakhowal said trains will be stopped from 11 am till 3 pm in Punjab.

    The four-hour protest is likely to disrupt train movement in the state, causing inconvenience to passengers.

    The protesters squatted on rail tracks at several places, including Jalandhar, Phillaur, Ferozepur and Bathinda.

    The demands of the farmers include a legal guarantee for the minimum support price and justice in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence case, Lakhowal said.

    Eight people, including four farmers, were killed in Lakhimpur Kheri in violence that erupted when farmers were protesting against Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya’s visit to the area on October 3 last year.

    Union Minister Ajay Mishra’s son Ashish Mishra is accused in the case.

    Farmers are demanding the sacking of Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Mishra.

    They are also demanding the withdrawal of cases registered against farmers during the anti-farm laws protest last year, compensation to the families of farmers who lost their lives during the stir and rollback of the Agnipath recruitment scheme for the defence forces.

    About the panel on minimum support price formed by the Centre recently, Lakhowal said the government included in the committee officers and farmers who were in favour of the now-repealed farm laws.

    Bhartiya Kisan Union (Kadian) president Harmeet Singh Kadian, participating in the protest at Phillaur railway station, said the farmers were holding the protest on the call given by the SKM.

    Farmers said they were forced to squat on rail tracks as the Centre was “not listening to their demands”.

  • Lakhimpur violence: Akhilesh equates killing of farmers with Jallianwala Bagh massacre

    By PTI

    LAKHIMPUR: Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday equated the mowing down of farmers in UP’s Lakhimpur Kheri with the Jallianwala Bagh massacre and said on coming to power, his government will act against people shielding perpetrators of the crime.

    Eight people, including four farmers, were killed in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence last October. The farmers were mowed down allegedly by cars carrying BJP workers. Police had arrested Union minister Ajay Mishra’s son Ashish in the case. Ashish Mishra got bail recently.

    Addressing election rallies in Pilibhit and Lakhimpur Kheri, Yadav said the violence reminded him of the Jalliawalan Bagh incident during the British rule.

    “Those who got bail in the case will lose their deposits in the court of people during voting,” he said, adding that his party’s government will ensure action against those who shielded perpetrators of the crime.

    Speaking on pending sugarcane dues in the Terai belt, Yadav promised that on coming to power, his party’s government will set up a corpus fund to ensure payment to farmers within 15 days of selling the crop. He also accused the ruling BJP of suppressing farmers during the stir against the Centre’s farm laws.

    “The BJP government acted against the farmers’ agitation in all its capacity,” Yadav alleged referring to the installing of spikes and barricades near the Delhi border where farmers protested against the laws. Yadav said the BJP repealed the farm laws only for votes and it could bring back any law any time.

    He also slammed the BJP government for rising inflation and paucity of fertilisers. Farmers, youth, Dalits and the poor have been looted by this government, diesel and petrol have become expensive, cooking gas has become expensive, education system has deteriorated, business and work has been snatched, Yadav said.

    In his address in Pilibhit, he observed a two-minute silence in the memory of the Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Council, Ahmed Hasan. Hasan had died on Saturday. Yadav said Hasan supported his father and party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav throughout his life.

  • Lakhimpur violence: UP agrees to SC suggestion on monitoring of SIT probe by ex-judge

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The Uttar Pradesh government on Monday agreed to the Supreme Court suggestion that a former judge of its choice may be appointed to supervise the state SIT’s probe on day-to-day basis into the Lakhimpur Kheri violence in which eight people including four farmers were killed on October 3.

    A bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana also raised the issue of low-rank police officers being engaged in the SIT probe and sought names of the IPS officers who are of the UP cadre but not natives of the state, for being included in investigation team.

    The bench, also comprising justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli, said that it will have to take the consent of the judge concerned and will consider names of even former apex court and high court judges for monitoring the probe in the sensational case and pronounce the same on Wednesday.

    While consenting, senior advocate Harish Salve said that the state has no issues with the apex court appointing a former judge of its choice to monitor the probe, but the point that he should not be a native of Uttar Pradesh should not bear in the mind as the person concerned is a relevant factor.

    The apex court, on November 8, had expressed dissatisfaction over the probe and suggested that to infuse “independence, impartiality and fairness, in the ongoing investigation, a former judge of a “different high court, should monitor it on day-to-day basis.

    The bench had also said that it has no confidence and does not want the one-member judicial commission appointed by the state to continue probe into the case.

    Retired Allahabad High Court judge Justice Pradeep Kumar Srivastava was named by the state government to enquire into the eruption of violence on Tikonia-Banbirpur road in Lakhimpur Kheri district.

  • Samyukt Kisan Morcha writes to President Kovind, demands Union MoS Ajay Mishra’s dismissal, arrest

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The Samyukt Kisan Morcha on Monday wrote to President Ram Nath Kovind demanding the dismissal and arrest of Union Minister Ajay Mishra in connection with the Lakhimpur violence, and formation of an SIT under the Supreme Court’s supervision to probe the incident.

    The umbrella body of farmer unions, spearheading the agitation against the Centre’s three agri laws, noted that “conflict of interest is a key obstruction to justice” in the Lakhimpur Kheri farmers’ massacre and alleged that accused were receiving VIP treatment in custody.

    “Union Minister of State for Home Mr Ajay Mishra should be immediately dismissed from his post. Mr Ajay Mishra should also be arrested immediately for his role in the murder (criminal conspiracy under Sec. 120B in addition to other charges as described above).

    ALSO READ: Farmers protest on Tuesday to demand sacking of MoS Home Ajay Mishra

    “We also continue to demand that the investigation of this incident should be done by an Special Investigation Team (SIT) under the direct supervision of the Supreme Court,” the SKM said in the letter.

    Four of the eight people who died in the violence in Lakhimpur Kheri on October 3 were farmers, allegedly knocked down by a vehicle carrying BJP workers.

    Angry farmers then allegedly lynched some people in the vehicles.

    Farmers have claimed that Ajay Mishra’s son Ashish was in one of the vehicles, an allegation denied by him and his father who say they can produce evidence to prove he was at an event at that time.

    ALSO READ: Samyukt Kisan Morcha will oppose BJP in Uttar Pradesh assembly polls, says farmer leader Rakesh Tikait

    Ashish Mishra was arrested in the case on October 9.

    The SKM alleged that accused were receiving VIP treatment in custody and witness statements were not getting recorded at the pace expected by the Supreme Court.

    “It is very obvious that conflict of interest is a key obstruction to justice in the Lakhimpur Kheri farmers’ massacre, and any decent government would have, in terms of principles of natural justice, sacked and arrested Mr Ajay Mishra by now,” it said in the letter.

  • Samyukt Kisan Morcha will oppose BJP in Uttar Pradesh assembly polls, says farmer leader Rakesh Tikait

    By PTI

    AGRA: Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rakesh Tikait on Monday visited the family of Arun Narwar who was allegedly killed in police custody in Agra in Uttar Pradesh and demanded a compensation of Rs 40 lakh and government job to his kin.

    Speaking to reporters after meeting Narwar’s family members, Tikait said, “The state government is discriminating while giving compensation.

    “It has given compensation of Rs 40-45 lakh in Lakhimpur Kheri and Kanpur, while in Agra the government has given a compensation of Rs 10 lakh.”

    “The state government should give compensation of Rs 40 lakh to the family of Arun as well. The government should not have discriminated,” he said.

    He also demanded a government job for a member of Narwar’s family and a judicial probe into his death.

    Narwar was accused of stealing Rs 25 lakh from the Jagdishpura police station here and died in police custody after his health deteriorated during interrogation on October 19, officials had said.

    Targeting the BJP government over farm laws, Tikait said, “I will urge farmers not to vote for BJP in the upcoming assembly election. The Samyukt Kisan Morcha will oppose the BJP in state assembly elections.”

    “We will not field our candidates nor support any political party in the assembly election,” he added.

    He said their agitation against the Centre’s three farm laws will continue till the matter is resolved and added “we are also ready to talk to the central government.”

  • Lakhimpur Kheri violence: SKM suspends Yogendra Yadav over visiting BJP worker’s house

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The Samyukta Kisan Morcha on Thursday suspended social activist Yogendra Yadav for a month for visiting the family of a BJP worker who was killed in the October 3 Lakhimpur Kheri violence.

    Yadav has been a member of the outfit’s core committee.

    A senior farmer leader said the decision was taken at a general body meeting of the SKM, which has been spearheading the nationwide protest against the Centre’s farm laws.

    “In its meeting, the SKM suspended Yogendra Yadav for a month as he had visited the family of a BJP worker who had died in Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur Kheri,” he said.

    “He (Yadav) cannot participate in the meetings and other activities of Samyukta Kisan Morcha,” the farmer leader added.

    Yadav had attended the SKM’s general body meeting on Thursday.

    Eight people were killed in Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur Kheri on October 3.

    Four of the eight victims were farmers, who were allegedly knocked down by a vehicle carrying BJP workers.

    Angry farmers then allegedly lynched some people in the vehicles.

    The other dead included two BJP workers and their driver.

  • Lakhimpur violence case: SIT releases photos of six suspects

    By PTI

    LUCKNOW: The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the Lakhimpur Kheri violence case on Tuesday released pictures of six people standing near an SUV, which was set ablaze during the October 3 incident.

    It has assured that details of those giving information will not be revealed besides informers will be given due rewards.

    The Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh had set up the SIT to investigate the Lakhimpur Kheri violence case in which eight people, including four farmers, were killed.

    “The SIT team probing the October 3 violence has got some photos and videos. We are releasing photographs and appeal to people to identify them,” an SIT official said.

    “Six photographs have been released for identification,” he said.

    The SIT has already issued notices to over three dozen farmers for questioning in a case related to the lynching of BJP workers.

    Two FIRs were registered at the Tikonia police station after eight people, including four farmers, were killed in the violence.

    In the first FIR, MoS Ajay Mishra’s son Ashish was named as accused besides 15 to 20 unidentified persons.

    Another FIR was lodged at the same police station on the basis of a complaint by Sumit Jaiswal, who has now been arrested.

    In the complaint, Jaiswal, a resident of Ayodhyapuri here, identified himself as a BJP worker who was on his way to welcome Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya for a wrestling event at Banbirpur, when the violence broke out.

    So far, 10 people, including the MoS’ son Ashish Mishra, have been arrested in the case.

    The farmers alleged that Ashish Misra was present in one of the vehicles during the incident, a charge which has been denied by him.

    The minister’s son claimed he was present in Banbirpur village at the time to attend a wrestling event.

    Among eight killed, four were farmers, one was a local journalist and three were BJP workers.

  • Non-inclusion in BJP national executive panel doesn’t reduce my stature: Maneka Gandhi

    By PTI

    SULTANPUR: Days after failing to find a place in the BJP national executive committee, MP Maneka Gandhi on Monday said she is satisfied to be in the party for 20 years and that her non-inclusion in the panel does not reduce her stature.

    “I am satisfied to be in the BJP for 20 years. Not being in the executive does not reduce one’s stature. My first religion is to serve. It is more important that I get a place in the hearts of people,” Gandhi said when asked about not including her name along with that of her son and Pilibhit MP Varun Gandhi in the party executive committee.

    Maneka Gandhi is on a two-day visit to her parliamentary constituency here.

    “There are other senior leaders who also have not got a place in the executive committee. New people should also get an opportunity. I am aware of my duties and serving the people of my constituency is my first duty,” she stressed.

    The BJP had recently announced its 80-member national executive with the likes of Varun Gandhi and Birender Singh, who have taken a sympathetic stand with farmers protesting against the Centre’s three agri laws, and Maneka Gandhi being among those replaced with a new crop of leaders.

    The development comes at a time when opposition parties are targeting the ruling BJP over the killing of eight people, including four farmers, in Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur Kheri on October 3.

    Varun Gandhi had posted a purported video of the incident and said that the protesters cannot be silenced through murder.

    “The video is very clear. Protesters cannot be silenced through murder. There should be accountability for the blood of innocent farmers and justice should be given before the message of arrogance and cruelty enters the mind of every farmer,” the Pilibhit MP had tweeted.

    He had also written a letter to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, demanding immediate identification of suspects of the incident and registration of murder case and investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) under the supervision of the Supreme Court.

  • Lakhimpur violence: Will start protests if Union Minister Ajay Mishra not sacked by Oct 11, warns SKM

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The Samyukt Kisan Morcha on Sunday “warned” the Centre and the Uttar Pradesh government that its deadline to sack and arrest Minister of State for Home Ajay Mishra ends on October 11 failing which it will start phase-wise protests against the Lakhimpur Kheri violence.

    Earlier this week, the SKM had issued an ultimatum, asking the government to act against MoS Home Ajay Mishra by October 11 failing which they would start a phase-wise programme to protest the Lakhimpur Kheri violence.

    “Justice clearly getting compromised because Ajay Mishra is in a minister’s post in the Union government,” said SKM, an umbrella body of 40 farmer unions spearheading the anti-farm laws agitation.

    “The SKM warns Government of India and Uttar Pradesh government that time is running out on the deadline of October 11 given by it.

    ALSO READ | Lakhimpur Kheri: SKM rejects UP govt SIT, inquiry commission; threatens ‘rail roko’ on Oct 18

    Ajay Mishra’s arrest and dismissal are awaited in addition to arrests of all culprits in Lakhimpur Kheri farmers’ massacre,” it added.

    Union minister Ajay Mishra’s son, who was arrested in connection with the Lakhimpur Kheri violence, was remanded to judicial custody for 14 days and placed under Covid quarantine in the district jail in Lakhimpur Kheri, officials said on Sunday.

    Four of the eight people who died in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence were farmers, allegedly knocked down by a vehicle carrying BJP workers.

    Angry farmers then allegedly lynched some people in the vehicles.

    The other dead included two BJP workers and their driver.

    Farmers have claimed that Ashish Mishra was in one of the vehicles, an allegation denied by him and his father who say they can produce evidence to prove he was at an event at that time.

    ALSO READ | Lakhimpur Kheri: MVA allies urge people to extend full support to Maharashtra bandh on Monday

    The farmer unions had said if the government does not accept their demands by October 11, they will take out a ‘Shaheed Kisan Yatra’ from Lakhimpur Kheri with the ashes of the farmers who died.

    The SKM had also given a call for a ‘rail roko’ protest across the country from 10 AM to 4 PM on October 18 and a ‘mahapanchayat’ in Lucknow on October 26.

    “Planning, meetings are happening in various states to implement SKM call for action for justice in Lakhimpur Kheri farmers massacre,” the SKM statement said on Sunday.

    The SKM pointed out that Ajay Mishra, continuing as a minister in the Modi government and that too for Home Affairs, is completely “untenable and inconceivable”.

    “It is clear that the MoS Home had a role to play in promoting enmity and disharmony, in criminal conspiracy and murder, as well as in harbouring offenders and trying to obstruct justice and to tamper with/conceal evidence,” the statement said.

  • No hope for justice in Lakhimpur case till Ajay Mishra is a minister: AAP MP Sanjay Singh

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Justice is not possible in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence case so long as the father of accused Ashish continues to remain a Union minister, AAP MP Sanjay Singh said Sunday, demanding the sacking of Ajay Kumar Mishra as a minister of state for home affairs.

    He alleged the BJP and the Yogi Adityanath government “tried their best to save” Mishra’s son Ashish but he had to be arrested as no other option was left before the Uttar Pradesh government after the Supreme Court intervened in the matter.

    “As long as Ajay Mishra continues to remain a minister of state for home affairs, justice cannot be done in this case,” Singh, who has been camping in Uttar Pradesh, said in a video message.

    Late on Saturday night, Ashish was arrested by the Uttar Pradesh police after around 12 hours of questioning, and produced before a local court that sent him to 14-day judicial custody in connection with the October 3 violence in Lakhimpur during a farmers’ protest.

    Eight persons, which included four farmers and a journalist, were killed in the incident of violence.

    Ashish was named an accused in an FIR following allegations that he was in one of the vehicles that mowed down the four farmers protesting over Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya’s visit to the area.

    “The BJP and Adityanath Ji’s government tried their best to save Ajay Mishra’s son.

    However, following the Supreme Court’s reprimand, he was interrogated and arrested as no other option was left,” the Aam Aadmi Party leader said.

    Targeting the Union government, Singh also questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s silence on the Lakhimpur violence and asked why Ajay Kumar Mishra has not yet been dismissed as minister of state for home affairs yet.

    “After the independence of India, this incident of crushing the farmers like insects reminds us of the rule of General Dyer….

    Didn’t he (prime minister) see those pictures? Didn’t he see that heart-wrenching incident?” Singh asked The AAP leader claimed that family members of the farmers and the journalist who were killed in the incident are also not “hopeful” of getting justice in the case until Ajay Kumar Mishra is removed from his ministerial post.

    “The son (Ashish Mishra) has been arrested.

    The entire country is now asking the government when the minister will be dismissed from his post,” he said.