The ongoing farmers agitation took an ugly turn when, Lakhimpuri Kheri witnessed the killing of 8 persons in an escalation of violence.
Farmers ran over by Car
In a 29 second video, a group of protesters can be seen moving forward on a road next to farm fields and then being mowed down by a grey SUV that speeds up from behind. One man is thrown up over the bonnet before the vehicle speeds away, leaving a jumble of bodies on the side of the road.
This horrific incident has led to killing of 4 farmers.
The video was posted on Twitter Monday by Tractor to Twitter, an account that describes itself as a “campaign to support protesting farmers on social media against the farm bills”.
“The vehicles drove in a zigzag manner. One of them was driven by Ashish Mishra (the son of Union MoS Mishra). The vehicles crushed the farmers, killing several of them. Our leader Tejender Singh Virk was dragged by the cars for a long distance. Some got stuck under the cars, but the vehicles didn’t stop. I couldn’t believe my eyes,” said Gurmeet Singh, a farmer from Lakhimpur Kheri, who was among the group of protesters.
“The Minister’s son realised that he may get caught, so he shot one of the farmers and fled,” said Dilbagh Singh, a farm leader who was present. “Ashish Mishra did not expect such a crowd and tried to escape, resulting in the incident,” said a senior police officer, who spoke to The Indian Express on condition of anonymity.
Provocation?
The farmers have said that Union MoS Ajay Mishra made “provocative” gestures and remarks aimed at farmers protesting against the Centre’s new agriculture laws.
They said he “showed the thumbs-down” to some farm protesters who had gathered. The situation escalated, they said, when a purported video soon started doing the rounds of the Minister mocking and challenging the protesters.
Warning the protesters, he is heard saying: “Aise logon ko kehna chahta hun ki sudhar jao, nahin to samna karwake hum aapko sudhaar denge, do minute lagega sirf (I want to say to such people to ‘mend your ways’, otherwise I will make them face me and set them right in two minutes).”
“It was this threat from the Minister during his visit to the Pallia area on September 25 that angered us,” said Dilbagh Singh, who heads the Lucknow division of the Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU).
Cycle of Violence
In retaliation two SUVs were set on fire by angry farmers in the clash, the bloodiest incident of violence since the protest over the farm laws enacted at the Centre began last year.
Four of the dead were people in the cars, apparently a part of a convoy of BJP workers who had come to welcome the UP minister. They were allegedly thrashed to death.
Political Leaders Detained
Priyanka Gandhi was detained in Sitapur on Monday on her way to Lakhimpur Kheri.
On Tuesday, she shared a video on Twitter purportedly showing a group of protesting farmers being mowed down by an SUV.
“@narendramodi ji your government has detained me for the past 28 hours without any order or FIR. Why the person who ran over farmers has not been arrested yet?” she said in a tweet in Hindi.
Priyanka Gandhi and other Congress leaders have been in detention beyond 24 hours and a drone camera deployed over the 2nd Battalion PAC guesthouse in Sitapur where they have been kept, Congress office-bearers claimed.
“She is not being allowed to meet her lawyers and the administration is not telling her reasons for her detention,” Congress media and communication vice chairperson Pankaj Srivastava said.
Besides Priyanka Gandhi, state Congress president Ajay Kumar Lallu, national secretary Dheeraj Gurjar, Youth Congress national president BV Srinivas, party MLC Deepak Singh are also under detention, he said.