Eight people, including four farmers, were killed after the son of a sitting federal minister ran over a farmers’ protests in the state of Uttar Pradesh.
The local media reported that the vehicle convoy involved in the Lakhimpur Kheri incident belonged to India’s Deputy Home Minister Ajay Kumar Mishra’s son. Mishra, on the other hand, dismissed the allegation.
Farmers’ groups allege they were holding a protest over the controversial farm laws when an approaching cavalcade drove over a number of demonstrators
Talking to reporters senior police official Arun Kumar Singh said “Eight persons have died in the Lakhimpur [Kheri] incident.”
Police and other local authorities say that the death toll has been verified but specifics of the tragedy, which occurred on the Tikonia-Banbirpur route, some 130 kilometers from Lucknow, have not been released.
Farmers in Lakhimpur Kheri have been protesting since Sunday morning against the visit of Mishra and Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya, both BJP members.
The gruesome tragedy might very well escalate the protests that have lasted over 10 months now. The farmers and civil society say that the farm laws will benefit corporations at the expense of millions of farmers
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration maintains that agricultural laws are critical in attracting investment to a sector whose contribution to GDP has been steadily declining.
Farmers have demanded that the perpetrators be prosecuted and that the minister be removed from his position.
Speaking to media, farmer leader Darshan Pal asserted “We demand the MoS Home [Mishra] be removed from his cabinet rank and murder charges be slapped against his son, who ran his vehicle over the farmers and others involved in the incident”.
Pal said “We also demand that an investigation under the supervision of a Supreme Court judge be ordered into this gruesome incident”.
A prominent farmer leader, Rakesh Tikait, denounced the violence and urged on the government to apprehend those guilty for the murders of farmers.
“The incident in Lakhimpur Kheri is very sad. It has once again exposed the cruel and undemocratic face of the government,” tweeted Tikait.
Earlier in August, one farmer was murdered and ten others were wounded by police action during a protest against farm rules in northern Haryana.
