Farmers, police personnel hurt in Bikaner clash, Raj govt on backfoot

Over two dozen farmers and 30 policemen were injured when police batoncharged an angry mob blocking the Bikaner-Ganganagar highway in Lunkaransar on Saturday morning. Five of them are said to be in a critical state.

The protesters, led by the former CPI(M) legislator Lalchand Bhadu, were demanding canal water for irrigation purposes at fields spread across Lunkaransar sub-division of Bikaner. The district administration later imposed curfew-like restrictions under Section 144 of the Indian Penal Code in the area.

The farmers’ unrest in Rajasthan, coupled with a spurt in debtrelated suicides, has put the BJPled state government on the back foot. Opposition parties, including the Congress and the CPI(M), have planned many similar rallies in the coming days.

Rajasthan Congress president Sachin Pilot has accused the BJP of neglecting farmers. “Nine committed suicide across Rajasthan in the last 40 days, while 70 farmers ended their lives over the last three years. The state government issues directives to suppress any protest or demonstration, even if conducted in a democratic manner, because it does not want people to question its working style,” he said.

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi will address a protest rally in Banswara district on July 19.

In Bikaner, around 36 farmers were booked for damaging government property by herding bulls into the sub-divisional magistrate’s office. However, the farmers claimed that the bovines had entered the premises on their own, after officials failed to evacuate them from a nearby place. Farmers in the area have com

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