News Analysis India

Tag: Lakhimpur violence

  • Lakhimpur violence: Priyanka Gandhi arrested, Baghel stopped from leaving Lucknow airport

    Express News Service

    LUCKNOW: After being kept in custody at PAC guest house for more than a day, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and 10 other Congressmen were arrested officially by Sitapur police under various sections of CrPC on Tuesday.

    According to police sources, the arrests of the Congress leaders were made to “prevent the commission of cognizable offences”.

    Notably, Priyanka was stopped and taken into preventive custody on early Monday morning at Sitapur while she was on her way to Lakhimpur Kheri where violence broke out between the farmers and the BJP workers had claimed 8 lives, including four farmers, on Sunday.

    Besides Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, those arrested included Congress leader Deepender Singh Hooda, UP Congress state president Ajay Kumar Lallu and party MLC Deepak Singh, Sandeep, Rajkumar, Narendra Shekhawat, Yogendra, Harikant, Dhiraj Gurjar, and Amit. The arrests were made under Sections 107, 116 and 151 (arrest to prevent the commission of cognizable offences) of the CrPC.

    As per the sources, now the Congress leaders could be released on personal bonds. For now, they are being kept at PAC guest house as a temporary jail.

    According to Hargaon station house officer (SHO) Brijesh Kumar Tripathi, 11 persons were arrested. “On Monday around 4.30 am, Priyanka ji was stopped while on her way to Lakhimpur. We stopped her as the situation was not fine there and Section 144 of CrPC was in place,” said Tripathi, adding that the Congress general secretary did not listen to the cops and in proper security presence, she was taken to a local guest house. “Further course of action will be decided by the senior officials,” said Tripathi.

    However, the sources claimed that Priyanka may not necessarily be presented in the court for release. There were certain CrPC sections under which the hearing could be done by the magistrate at any place if there is a need.

    ALSO READ | Lakhimpur violence: Political fallout may impact BJP’s fortunes in Terai in 2022

    Meanwhile, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, who finally reached Lucknow airport on Tuesday to show solidarity with the four farmers killed in Sunday’s violence, was not allowed to leave the airport and sat on the floor in protest, questioning the rationale behind the denial of permission.

    In a video tweeted by Baghel, he can be seen asking the police officials why he was being stopped from leaving the airport when he had no intention of visiting Lakhimpur Kheri.

    Baghel had on Monday slammed the BJP-led Uttar Pradesh government for not allowing him to land at the Lucknow airport, and asked whether civil rights have been abolished in the northern state.

    “When Section 144 (of CrPC) is in force in Lakhimpur, then why landing at Lucknow is not being allowed,” he asked. “Have the civil rights been abolished in Uttar Prad esh? Is a separate visa is required for going to UP? Why are people being stopped? It is very unfortunate as it is a question of civil rights. Can’t people go to express their condolences and to take stock of the incident? If they (BJP government) are stopping, then what is their mindset?” he further asked.

    The way farmers were mowed down (in Lakhimpur Kheri on Sunday), it shows their (UP BJP government’s) mentality that those who will raise voice against them will be crushed and trampled, he claimed. “This mentality is very dangerous and the whole country is agitated and everyone wants to go to Lakhimpur,” he said. “The incident has “exposed the real face of the BJP”.

    Baghel said, “BJP was elected to power over the issue of law and order and now the entire country is watching how the law and order was violated there. There is nothing left in control of Yogi Adityanath, and his own people are doing such things.”

  • Lakhimpur violence: Political fallout may impact BJP’s fortunes in Terai in 2022

    Express News Service

    LUCKNOW: The Lakhimpur violence has given much-needed ammo to the opposition to attack the BJP just ahead of the 2022 assembly elections. The ruling party, on the other hand, is having some moments of anxiety despite having doused the flames of a possible prolonged protest.

    Lakhimpur Kheri is the largest district of UP’s Terai region with the dominance of the Sikh farmers’ community who settled there after being were brought from Pakistan. The district has eight assembly segments which all were bagged by the BJP in the 2017 assembly elections under the saffron surge. However, in 2012 polls, the saffron party had managed to win just one seat.

    Apart from Sikhs, the other dominating communities in Kheri include Brahmins among upper castes, Kurmis among OBCs, and Muslims. Lakhimpur Kheri is majorly known for cane farming.

    In the aftermath of Sunday violence, while the Opposition faces the task of keeping up the political heat on the state government to capitalise on it in 2022 polls, the BJP also fears that the spillover effect of it will be felt in adjoining districts such as Pilibhit, Shahjahanpur, Hardoi, Sitapur, and Bahraich, where the party had registered major gains in 2017 elections by winning 37 seats of the 42 across the six districts.

    ALSO READ | Yogi government on edge as Congress plans to make Lakhimpur Kheri a big poll issue

    The letters and the pro-farmers tweets by BJP’s Pilibhit MP Varun Gandhi explain much of it as the Gandhi scion doesn’t want to antagonise the farmers who make a major chunk of his vote bank.

    “The Lakhimpur Kheri issue is likely to resonate in the upcoming UP elections as the opposition will try to keep up the heat,” feels Prof AK Mishra, a prominent political scientist.

    However, a senior BJP leader believes that the state government successfully pacified the protesting farmers and brought the situation under control following the violence. He claims that the BJP had worked a lot for the farmers’ welfare in the state.

    In 2017, the Samajwadi Party and Congress were in alliance. While SP had won just four seats, Congress had drawn a blank. The BSP had managed to win a single seat from the Terai region.

    Ajay Mishra, whose son is believed to have a role in the death of farmers in violence, had won the seat for the BJP from the Nighasan Assembly segment, where the incident happened Sunday. BJP has won this assembly seat thrice since 1993. Ajay Mishra had lost the election from this seat in 2007.

    Moreover, the vote share of the BJP in Lakhimpur Kheri also went up considerably in 2017 as compared to 2012. Besides, bagging all the eight seats, BJP registered 51% vote as compared to 11% in 2012 in the Palia assembly segment, 49% as compared to 3.9% in Gola Gorakarannath, 36% as compared to 5.8% in Dhaurahra, and 44% as compared to 5.8% in Kasta, the reserved seat.

  • ‘Have evidence to prove innocence’: Union Minister, son deny role in Lakhimpur violence

    Express News Service

    LUCKNOW: Junior Union Home Minister Ajay Mishra on Monday denied all charges against his son Ashish who is alleged to have mowed down four framers in Lakhimpur Kheri on Sunday.

    Five more people, including three from BJP, a driver and a freelance journalist had died in the violence.

    Both the minister and his son said that there is evidence to prove the latter’s innocence.

    The minister, while talking to reporters, expressed empathy for the farmers who lost their lives in the violence. He demanded Rs 50 lakh as compensation for the families of BJP workers who lost life in the violence. The minister said that case must be lodged against those involved in beating the BJP workers to death. He also claimed that his driver had died inside the vehicle when he was hit by a stone pelted by a protesting farmer on his vehicle.

    “Three of our workers and a driver were killed. Our cars were set on fire in Lakhimpur Kheri. We are going to get an FIR lodged. We have video clips to prove our point. A case under Section 302 of IPC has to be lodged against those who were involved in mindless violence,” said the minister.

    Demanding a CBI probe or an STF inquiry monitored by retired or sitting High Court Judge into the incident, Mishra claimed that BJP workers were attacked with sticks and swords. “Videos are viral on social media showing our workers being forced to say that I had asked them to mow down farmers. Allegations against my son are also baseless. Had he been there, he would also have been also killed by the violent mob,” said Mishra.

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

    Ashish Mishra, the son of Union Minister, refuted accusations that he was part of the convoy that allegedly ran over farmers, triggering the violence that left nine people dead in Lakhimpur on Sunday.

    “The programme that was happening was an ancestral one. It has been going on for around 35 years… We have a tradition that when we have guests, we send two-three vehicles to receive them… the Mahindra Thar was my vehicle, one of our workers had a Toyota Fortuner and there was a smaller car,” he said while talking to media persons.

    “I was not in the car. I was at my paternal home in Banbirpur village where a wrestling match was being organised. I was there from the morning till the end of the event,” he said.

    “It’s not correct that the Fortuner mowed down farmers. The truth is that our worker went to receive the Honourable Deputy Chief Minister. The Thar SUV that was in the front was attacked with sticks and stones. Driver Hari Om was injured or may have died in that attack. The car lost its balance and overturned.

    That’s how these two people who are being called farmers must have been injured,” Ashish added.

    “People who did such things cannot be called farmers. India’s farmers are not so heartless and cruel. The fault lies with the people who are leading the farmers’ organisation. This is a democracy everyone has the right to have their say and wave their flag but peacefully,” he said.

    A murder case has been filed against Ashish Mishra, who, the farmers alleged, was driving one of the three vehicles that mowed down the protesters, which triggered the violence. The protesters were trying to stop the visit of his Union Minister father and Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya.