India News | Lakhimpur Kheri Incident: Farmer-led Protests Held Across the Country, Claims SKM

New Delhi, Oct 4 (PTI) The Samyukt Kisan Morcha on Monday claimed that farmer-led demonstrations were organised across the country to express anger over the incident at Lakhimpur Kheri in Uttar Pradesh where four farmers lost their lives during violent clashes a day earlier.

Union minister Ajay Mishra's son is among those booked in connection with the violence during a farmers' protest in Lakhimpur Kheri, officials said on Monday.

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Two FIRs were registered a day after clashes claimed the lives of eight people, including four farmers allegedly run over and four people in a convoy of BJP workers who were lynched, the incident propelling Lakhimpur Kheri as a new flashpoint in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh.

A statement from SKM, which is spearheading anti-farm laws protests, claimed, "On Samyukt Kisan Morcha's call last night, calling for protests from 10 am to 1pm today all over the country to press for four key demands, protests have been organised at district headquarters and other locations.

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"Reports have come in from Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Odisha, Bihar, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, West Bengal and other states about these protests," .

A silent protest march was also organised at Delhi's Singhu Border, it added.

According to the statement, the protestors questioned "the impunity and the violence with which BJP leaders are operating, and their anti-farmer attitude and behaviour", and demanded immediate dismissal of the Union minister Ajay Kumar Mishra, his son and others in connection with the incident.

"Today, an agreement was reached between SKM leaders, local protesting farmers and families of the deceased, and the state administration, which paved the way for the final rites of the martyred farmers after their postmortem is performed.

"FIR has been registered against Ashish Mishra Teni and 15 others under Sections 302, 120B and other charges, and the government said it will arrest all the accused within a week," the statement claimed.

UP's Additional Chief Secretary, Home, Awanish Kumar Awasthi said the state government will give Rs 45 lakh each and a government job at the local level to the family members of the four farmers killed in Lakhimpur.

"FIR has been lodged against several persons, including Minister of State for Home, Ajay Mishra's son Ashish Mishra," Awasthi told PTI in Lucknow.

The SKM also expressed anger at the UP government's refusal to allow politicians and activists, including Punjab CM Charanjit Channi, to visit Lakhimpur Kheri.

"Reports throughout the day indicated that the Uttar Pradesh government tried numerous undemocratic ways of preventing various people going to Lakhimpur Kheri, whether it was social activists, or political leaders.

"Such draconian measures are unprecedented and raise numerous valid questions. SKM condemns all these undemocratic measures of the BJP government in UP," the statement said.

The Lakhimpur Kheri incident comes days ahead of the farmers' protest against the three contentious farm laws completing a year next month.

Thousands of farmers from different parts of the country have been camping at the Delhi borders since November 26 last year, demanding the repeal of the three new farm laws.

While the farmers have been expressing fear that the laws would do away with the Minimum Support Price system, leaving them at the mercy of the corporations, the government has been projecting them as major agricultural reforms.

Over 10 rounds of talks between the two parties have failed to break the deadlock.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)