For more than 300 days, farmers have been protesting against three contentious farm laws of the central government. According to a statement by Samyukt Kissan Morcha(SKM) which is an umbrella body of 40 farm unions, 12th October 2021 will be observed as the ‘Shaheed Kissan Divas to pay tribute to the four farmers who lost their lives on 3rd October in the Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur Kheri violence.
The occasion ‘Antim Ardaas’ will take place in Tikunia at Sahebjada Inter College. Tens of thousands of farmers are expected to come to support and join the prayer meeting.
The violent incident occurred on 3rd October when BJP workers drove vehicles allegedly knocked down four farmers. A total of eight people died in the incident, of whom two were BJP workers, one was a driver, and another was Raman Kashyap, a journalist.
On the occasion of Shaheed Kisan Diwas, The SKM will organise prayer meetings for the departed soul followed by candlelight vigils in the evening. SKM also urged the people across the country to light five candles outside their homes at 8 pm today.
Many people from other states like Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand and farmer leaders, including Rakesh Tikait, will arrive for the occasion of Antim Ardaas.
While Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is also expected to attend the occasion, many posters are against her visit. The other party leaders who are also likely to visit are Dheeraj Gurjar, Rohit Chaudhary, Pramod Tiwari, Aradhna Misra and Deepak Singh.
Response to Farmers Protest
On 11th October, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi tweeted his opinion that the government is obstructing justice by not dismissing MoS Ajay Mishra Teni while concluding that the BJP government neither cares for farmers nor cares about the BJP workers who were killed.
Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) stated that no politician would be allowed to share the dice. The politician has to attend the occasion like the rest of the farmers among them.
Many police personals are deployed in the area to maintain law and order and smooth movement of the public across the region.
On Monday, Ashish Mishra, son of Union MoS Ajay Mishra, was remanded in three days of police custody. UP Police’s Special Investigation Team sought 14 days custody for Ashish Mishra from the court on Monday, citing ‘for not cooperating with the probe’.
Lakhimpur kheri Incident
Today morning, Lakhimpur Kheri Police have confirmed that Ankit Das’s driver Shekhar Bharti was also arrested. Now he is being interrogated. Reportedly, Bharti was driving the Black Fortuner that ran over the farmers. Bharti was the fourth person arrested related to LakhimpurKheri violence.
The farmer’s body also added that they would mark the Dussehra on 15th October by burning the effigies of BJP leaders.
At around 10:30 today morning, SKM has given a call for a “rail roko” protest across the country on 18th October from 10 am to 4 pm. They will also organise a Mahapnachayat in Lucknow on 26th October.
These farmers union has also expressed their shock and surprise for not taking any action against Ajay Mishra, a BJP MP and Union Minister. “It is shameful on the part of the Modi government that Ajay Mishra Teni has not been sacked yet. It was his vehicles that were in the convoy that killed innocent people,” the farmer union said in a statement.
SKM already issued an injunction citing 11th October as the deadline for the sacking of Ajay Mishra.
The union of farmers and the government of India were in over ten rounds of talks regarding projecting the three laws as agricultural reforms. But both have failed to break the deadlock.
From the last year, the farmers’ union has been united. The bottom line is we are the most significant democratic country. The government should listen to both sides of the coin and then decide what is best for everyone and serve the much-sought justice to overcome such dangerous and violent incidents.
