‘Reaction to action’: Tikait on BJP workers’ murder

NEW DELHI: Farmer union leader Rakesh Tikait on Saturday said the death of three people said to be associated with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur Khiri district on October 2 was a “reaction to an action”.

“It was a reaction to the action of (BJP leader) Ajay Mishra’s jeep running over farmers returning home peacefully after a protest,” Tikait said in Hindi. He said a “neutral probe” into the entire incident should be ordered. Farm unions do not have faith in the probe ordered by the UP government by a retired judge, he said, adding he was “saddened” by the loss of lives. Farmers had been provoked into reacting, he said.

“(Prime minister Narendra) Modi also said during the Gujarat riots that the violence was a reaction to an action. What’s wrong in saying what appears to have happened?” Tikait, a leader of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (Indian farmers’ union), said. Tikait is an influential leader from Baliyan khap (clan) of western Uttar Pradesh, a sugarcane belt. He is among a clutch of leaders who have led yearlong demonstrations against the Modi government’s three farm laws enacted last year.

On October 2, a convoy of vehicles belonging to Ashish Mishra, the son of Union minister of state for home Ajay Mishra, struck protesters, enraging farmers. A viral video a day later, reportedly of the incident, showed a jeep ploughing into farmers from behind at high speed in Lakhimpur Khiri.

Eight people were killed. Four farmers and a journalist are said to have been crushed by the vehicles. Three people linked the BJP died in the ensuing violence.