A highly charged mob of farmers protested, set ablaze vehicles, pelted stones in the Tikonia area of Lakhimpur district in Uttar Pradesh on Sunday after a car owned by the son of the union minister of state for home affairs, Ajay Mishra rammed into a procession organized to protest against farm bills.
Free Press Journal quoting Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) office-bearers, reported that three farmers died on the spot while 7-8 have been injured and were rushed to hospital for treatment.
A large number of farmers from the nearby areas reached the spot and started shouting slogans. The vehicle of the union minister’s son Monu was burnt along with few others by the agitated mob.
The incident occurred on Sunday afternoon when hundreds of farmers in Lakhimpur were marching towards Banvirpur locality where the Deputy Chief Minister of UP, K.P. Maurya was to arrive.
The Dy CM was to address a meeting of party workers in the area. The farmers had planned to stage a demonstration in front of Maurya against farm bills. While farmers were on their way, a car allegedly owned by the union minister’s son rammed in their procession injuring many.
This agitated the mob and they started creating a ruckus. The irate mob of farmers set several vehicles ablaze and pelted stones.
Reacting to it the national president of Samajwadi Party Akhilesh Yadav said that time has come when farmers would not let any BJP leader enter their areas. He said that the union minister’s son was crushing farmers who were peacefully agitating.
The farmers’ protest against the Modi government’s farm laws has been surprisingly resilient. Protests began nearly a year ago in Punjab and they have been going on at Delhi’s borders.
The agitation has withstood police brutality, a pandemic, peak winter and summer and the deaths of several hundred protesters.
The farmers’ protests stemmed from the need to survive. Farmers see the protest as their last stand to defend their livelihood.
The Modi government has tried various means to get the farmers to back down – from several rounds of negotiations to offers of keeping the laws on hold for a while.
But the farmers have made it clear that they won’t settle for anything less than a complete repeal of the laws.