New Delhi: The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), on Saturday, announced that the farmers will start a protest from January 21 at the site where farmers were killed in Lakhimpur Kheri if the Minister of State for Home Affairs Ajay Mishra ‘Teni’ is not sacked. His son Ashish Mishra is the main accused in the October 3 violence that had left eight people dead in the area.
“We will start a protest at the site where the farmers were killed in Lakhimpur Kheri from January 21, if the government fails to accept our demand to remove Teni,” said Rakesh Tikait, spokesperson of the Bharatiya Kisan Union, following a meeting of farmers. (as quoted on Hindustan Times)
“If the government does not accept our demands before January 21, we will visit every village in Uttar Pradesh to tell people about their anti-farmer policies,” he added.
An SUV owned by Ajay Mishra had run over farmers from behind on October 3 in Lakhimpur Kheri killing four farmers and a journalist. As a result of the violence that followed, three more people were killed out of whom two were Bharatiya Janata Party workers and the driver who was driving the car. Ashish Mishra has been jailed since October 9 last year.
SKM, the umbrella body of farmers’ union which led the farmers’ movement against three farm laws of the Centre, in a statement said that if Ajay Mishra would not be removed, then a permanent protest would be organised in Lakhimpur Kheri against the “brazen insensitivity” of the incumbent BJP.
The SKM has also said that it would observe a nationwide “Day of Betrayal” on January 31 against the government’s “reneging on its assurances to the farmers”. “To protest this betrayal to the farmers, the SKM has decided that on 31st January, Day of Betrayal will be observed across the country,” the statement read.