Over 400 farmers gathered at a gurdwara campus in Lakhimpur Kheri’s Tikunia on Monday and resolved to launch a movement against the Uttar Pradesh government and to mount pressure on the Samyukta Kisan Morcha to take up “sincerely” the massacre of October 3 last year.
“Farmers from across the country will gather in Tikunia on May 12 to protest against the highhandedness of Union minister of state for home Ajay Mishra Teni, his son Ashis Mishra and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. We are giving enough time to the state government and the local administration to take the mass murder case in the right direction,” said Gurnam Singh Charuni, president of Bharatiya Kisan Union (Charuni faction), at the meeting held at the Kauriyala Ghat Gurdwara campus.
The BKU faction is mostly active in Haryana.
Charuni said the farmers were also unhappy with the way the SKM had handled the case.
“They had promised to take care of the cases of the farmers and ensure that all 18 injured peasants get Rs 10 lakh as compensation. But they forgot their promise. We appeal to the SKM to appoint lawyers to contest the cases of the four farmers who have been jailed without any reason and also pursue sincerely the case against Ashis,” he added.
The speakers also raised the issue of the attack on an eyewitness to the massacre after the Assembly election results.
“It was no secret that Ashis had mowed down four farmers and a journalist by a Thar jeep owned by his minister father. The special investigation team didn’t plead the case well and so Ashis was granted bail. He should be in jail. The SKM forgot its promise to ensure that the accused would be punished soon. We will take direct action now if any witness in the Tikunia case is attacked again,” said Aman Deep Singh Sandhu, district president of BKU (Charuni faction).
Diljot Singh, a key eyewitness to the massacre, was brutally attacked on March 10 with a warning that he would be taught a lesson by the BJP as the party had won the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections.
On October 3 last year, four farmers and a journalist returning from a protest were mowed down by a VIP convoy led by Teni’s SUV that hit them from behind and ploughed through them. In retaliatory violence, the driver and two BJP workers were killed.
Diljot had testified that Ashis was in the SUV that mowed down the four farmers and journalist. He had said he saw Ashis get off the car, fire in the air and run away.
While 13 people were arrested in the case, Ashis was granted bail after a month.