Minister’s son booked, farmers end stir
UP announces probe by retd HC judge, Rs 45 lakh compensation for those killed; kin will get govt job, decisions follow talks between admn and farmers led by Rakesh Tikait
LAKHIMPUR KHERI/ LUCKNOW: Police booked the son of India’s junior home minister for murder and criminal conspiracy in connection with the death of eight people in Lakhimpur Kheri, and the government announced a judicial probe on Monday in a bid to defuse spiraling tensions. The administration also announced compensation and acceded to several demands by farm groups led by Rakesh Tikait, prompting protesting farmers to end their agitation and agree to conduct the last rites of the deceased.
Opposition politicians on Monday attacked the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for the violence in Tikunia village, where eight people – four of whom were farmers – died on Sunday in the bloodiest clash since protests against three central laws erupted last year. The deaths stoked violent demonstrations across north India on Monday.
The farmers claimed Ashish Mishra, the son of Union minister of state for home Ajay Mishra Teni, mowed down four cultivators with his SUV during an agitation on Sunday, igniting violent protests.
Ashish Mishra denied the charges, said he was not in the car, and blamed the farmers for torching vehicles and thrashing other people to death, including the car’s driver and two BJP workers. A local journalist also died in the violence.
“The incident of running a vehicle over farmers protesting peacefully shows the state of lawlessness in the state. The farmer’s protest will not be deterred because of this incident,” said Tikait in a joint press conference with Uttar Pradesh additional chief secretary (agriculture) Devesh Chaturvedi and additional director general (ADG), law and order, Prashant Kumar.
Lakhimpur Kheri superintendent of police Vijay Dhull said the FIR was filed against Ashish Mishra and 20 others under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 302 for murder, 304-A for causing death due to reckless driving, 120-B for criminal conspiracy and 147 for rioting at the Tikunia police station.
The complaint was filed by Jagjit Singh, a farmer. A second FIR booked unidentified people. Ajay Mishra was also mentioned in the first FIR but as part of the narrative of the incident, not as an accused, added police.
The government also announced that a retired high court judge will probe the violence and that the administration will give ₹45 lakh and a job to families of those killed and ₹10 lakh each to the injured.
“We have assured them of strictest action against those involved behind the violence and deaths,” said Kumar. “The officials will be in touch with a committee of farmers to address other issues, if any,” he added.
Violence broke out in the village of Tikunia – roughly 70km from district headquarters Lakhimpur Kheri and barely 10km from the India-Nepal border – around 2.30pm on Sunday, minutes before Uttar Pradesh deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya was to visit the area.
Farmers assembled to oppose Maurya’s visit to Banbirpur, the hometown of Ajay Mishra, alleged that the minister’s son was driving a car that ploughed
CM Yogi Adityanath has said culprits will be punished. The opposition is using the incident for political tourism and political competition as polls are around the corner
SIDHARTH NATH SINGH,
UP minister
down four cultivators. The protesters then allegedly went on a rampage.
Stating that farmers from across the country have lent support to them, farm leader Rakesh Tikait, spokesperson of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU), asked protesting farmers to clear the road after the government acceded to the demands of the farmers.
“The government has agreed to our demands. This is a victory for all the farmers of the country. It is the first time that an FIR has been lodged against a Union minister in this government,” Tikait said.
Late in the evening, Opposition leaders put out a video showing a vehicle ploughing into protesters.
But Ajay Mishra denied all charges and said his son was not present at the spot. “Neither I nor my son was present at the spot when the violence broke out. Our car was diverted to a different route,” he told reporters in Lakhimpur Kheri.
Ashish Mishra said farmers pelted stones at the convoy of three cars, which made the driver of one of the vehicles lose control.
Farmers then set fire to two cars, pulled out two BJP workers and their driver from the vehicle and lynched them, he added.
“BJP workers were attacked & killed with sticks & swords. Videos show some attackers asked our workers to say that I had asked them to mow down farmers. Allegations against my son are totally baseless. Had he been there, he would have been killed,” said Ajay Mishra.
He urged chief minister Yogi Adityanath to conduct a “fair probe” by the Central Bureau of Investigation, Special Investigation Team or a retired or sitting judge.
“I am ready to depose before any inquiry panel,” he added.
The violence marked a deadly escalation in the nearly yearlong agitation against three central laws that farmers say will erode state-support prices – a charge denied by the government. Farmers also vowed to widen their movement.
The Samyukt Kisan Morcha – the umbrella body coordinating the protests – said demonstrations were held in Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Odisha, Bihar, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, West Bengal
Several Opposition politicians attempted to go to Tikunia village but were stopped by the state government, which clamped prohibitory orders, detained senior leaders and refused permission for other politicians to land.
In Lucknow, Samajwadi Party’s Akhilesh Yadav said that not letting opposition leaders go to the district to meet the grieving families of farmers was nothing short of a fascist attitude. “We want the arrest of the minister and his son in the Lakhimpur incident,” he said.
“The BJP government is doing the politics of crushing the farmers and finishing them,” Priyanka Gandhi Vadra tweeted.
Officials said political leaders such as Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Akhilesh Yadav were not allowed in Lakhimpur Kheri because prohibitory orders were in place, adding that Tikait and other farmer leaders were allowed for negotiations. Uttar Pradesh government spokesperson and cabinet minister Sidharth Nath Singh termed the Opposition move to go to Lakhimpur a “political stunt”.
Singh in a statement said: “We are taking the matter seriously and it is under investigation. CM has said the culprits will be punished. Opposition is using the incident for political tourism and political competition as polls are around the corner”.