Jalandhar: Hours after he appeared before a Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Uttar Pradesh police for questioning in connection to the Lakhimpur Kheri incident, leaders of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha, the umbrella body of farmers’ unions protesting against the Central laws, ramped up their campaign for the arrest of Ashish Mishra, the son of the Union Minister of State for Home, Ajay Mishra.
Farmers have alleged that Ashish’s car was responsible for mowing down four protesters, leading to clashes that killed four more.
SKM coordination committee leaders said that from October 11 they will be forced to launch a nationwide campaign against the Lakhimpur Kheri massacre and non-satisfactory action by the government, if Ajay Mishra is not dismissed from the cabinet and his son is not arrested by police despite being an accused under Section 302 of IPC in the Lakhimpur Kheri massacre.
Addressing a press conference at Press Club of India, Delhi, Yogendra Yadav said that the SKM has decided to observe October 12 as ‘Shaheed Kisan Diwas’, when the ‘antim ardas’ (bhog ceremony) of the four farmers would be held at Tikonia in Lakhimpur Kheri.
He said that the SKM also appeals to fellow citizens to hold candle light marches and light five candles in the memory of the five martyrs outside their houses on October 12 evening.
Yadav also said that after the ‘antim ardas’, SKM would start ‘Shaheed Kisan Yatra’ from Lakhimpur Kheri, in in which the ashes of the martyr farmers would be taken to all the 75 districts of UP.
“This yatra will be started by carrying the sacred ashes (asthi kalash) not just to every district of UP but all states of the country too. The yatra would conclude at a holy or historical place in every district or state concerned,” he said.
He said that on the occasion of Dussehra, on October 15, people should burn the effigies of anti-farmer BJP government symbolised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and any local leader, as per the region where the festival would be celebrated. He also said that a ‘Rail Roko’ would be held across the country on October 18 from 10 am to 4pm.
“And on October 26, when the farmers’ protest will complete 11 months, the SKM will organise a ‘Kisan Mahapanchayat’ in Lucknow to protest against the Lakhimpur Kheri massacre. The Lucknow rally will be on the lines of the Muzaffarnagar mahapanchayat, which saw the participation of scores of farmers, locals, trade unions, civil society groups, writers and social thinkers,” Yadav added.
Senior SKM leaders Dr Darshan Pal, Hannan Mollah, Harpal Singh Bilari, Joginder Singh Ugrahan, Rakesh Tikait and Suresh Kauth also addressed the press conference.
Bharti Kisan Union leader Rakesh Tikait pointed out that the manner in which Ashish Mishra appeared before the police despite being an accused under section 302 of IPC, it was as if he was ‘invited’ by the SIT.
“However, the rule of the law is that an accused 302 IPC should be arrested immediately. All our next programmes post ‘antim ardas’ on October 12 depend on the arrest of Ashish Mishra, his associates Sumit Jaiswal and Ankit Das, whose names have surfaced in the killings and the dismissal of Ajay Mishra from the cabinet and arrested on the charges of spreading disharmony, and murder and conspiracy,” he emphasised.
Dr Darshan Pal, the president of Krantikari Kisan Union said that similar statements by Ajay Mishra and Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, threatening protesting farmers and asking for tit-for-tat replies to them respectively, were part of deep-rooted conspiracies.
“What farmers faced at Lakhimpur Kheri was a terror attack. It is not a simple incident. The moment their videos went viral, I raised an alarm that this could pose a major problem. But I want to tell everybody that the SKM will fight this battle till the end,” he said.
BKU (Ekta Ugrahan) president Joginder Singh Ugrahan also lashed out at the BJP led Modi government and said that when all their tactics of labelling farmers as “Khalistanis, terrorists and Naxalites” failed in the past 10 months of farmers’ protest, now they have resorted to “killing” them.
“I have been analysing from the last three months that the BJP’s tactics were turning dangerous. Whether it was the dharna at Karnal, where an SDM was found issuing directions to the police to hit the farmers with sticks and break their heads, Lakhimpur Kheri or the one at Naraingarh in Ambala district, Haryana, it is clear that the government has retreated to its last resort of violence. But let me also admit that we will give a befitting reply to this government. Neither we will back off nor we will be intimidated,” Ugrahan maintained.
During the press conference, Harpal Singh Bilari who leads the BKU (Asli-non political) said that the farmers’ protest at Ghazipur border was supported by farmers from the Terai region of UP. “Ahead of the assembly elections, UP which is known for giving the maximum number of prime ministers to the country was engaging in Hindu-Muslim and Hindu-Sikh politics. BJP’s agenda is to divide Hindus and Sikhs in the polls but they won’t succeed at all,” he said.
Earlier replying to media queries, SKM leaders said that they have already rejected the judicial commission inquiry set up by the UP government on October 6 and also the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the Lakhimpur Kheri killings. “We have demanded an investigation which reports directly to the Supreme Court,” they said.
(Extract. Courtesy: The Wire.)
