MP violence spreads, farmers torch cars, DM & SP assaulted

Govt announces interest waiver on loans to calm tensions

A day after police fired on protesting farmers in Mandsaur district killing eight — that’s what the protestors are claiming — of them, violence spread to different parts of Madhya Pradesh on Wednesday sparking tension across the state.

On Tuesday, defying curfew, hundreds of farmers took to the streets in Mandsaur district when police opened fire on a mob of peasants, leaving eight dead. On Wednesday, some 200 km away, a group of farmers marched to a police station in Dewas district and set fire to a number of vehicles parked there. The protestors then stopped two buses and 10 other vehicles plying on the Indore-Bhopal highway and torched them after asking the passengers to leave.

Senior government officials in Bhopal said Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan was keeping Prime Minister Narendra Modi informed about the situation. He also held a meeting with his ministers to discuss ways to restore peace.

To de-escalate tension, the Madhya Pradesh government on Wednesday announced a crop-loan settlement scheme which proposes waiving of interests for those cultivators who have defaulted.

MP Home Minister Bhupendra Singh had on Tuesday denied that the police opened fire but he kept mum on Wednesday.

On Wednesday, hundreds of farmers blocked roads and also attacked two senior officials at Mandsaur. DM Swatantra Kumar Singh and Indore SP O.P. Tripathi were roughed up when they reached Barkheda Pant where the farmers were squatting on the road with the body of one of those killed on Tuesday. Singh was chased away by the farmers. Tripathi, too, had a tough time fleeing the place. Police reinforcements were called to rescue the two officials.

The Mandsaur administration barred politicians, including Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, and political delegation from visiting the troubled areas.