Bihar Cong stages silent protest against Lakhimpur Kheri killings

The leaders sought immediate dismissal of Central minister Ajay Kumar Teni whose son Ashish Mishra allegedly mowed down at least four farmers in Lakhimpur Kheri district of Uttar Pradesh last week.

Expressing their solidarities with the farmers’ issues, the leaders and workers of the state Congress staged a silent dharna here in front of the Income Tax office on Monday and sought immediate dismissal of Central minister Ajay Kumar Teni whose son Ashish Mishra allegedly mowed down at least four farmers in Lakhimpur Kheri district of Uttar Pradesh last week.

Bihar Congress leaders and party workers stage a silent protest over the Lakhimpur Kheri incident, in Patna on Monday. (PTI)

All India Congress Committee (AICC) in-charge for Bihar Bhakta Charan Das, Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee (BPCC) chief Madan Mohan Jha and a host of other leaders sat on dharna, holding placards in their hands, seeking the expulsion of Teni and justice for those killed in Lakhimpur Kehri violence. Four farmers, three BJP workers and a journalist were killed during the farmers’ protest.

AICC media panellist and MLC Prem Chandra Mishra said the BPCC’s protest was part of the nationwide party’s programme to sympathise with farmers who have been agitating for the past ten months for the scrapping of three controversial farms’ acts. “Hundreds of farmers have died during the stir, but the government is not listening to them. Instead, the BJP leaders have been applying all sorts of conspiracy to defame them and attacking them like terrorists,” said Mishra.

Even as senior state Congress leaders, including the Congress legislature party leader Ajit Sharma, former Union minister Shakeel Ahmad, chief spokesman Rajesh Rathore, staged the protest with party workers, farmers were conspicuous by their absence.

Explaining the purpose of the dharna, Mishra said that it was aimed at throwing moral support to the farmers of Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana and other states, which have been witnessing protests from the agriculturists. “Bihar’s farmers are not restive, as they could not perceive the fallout of the draconian acts. There is hardly any strong farmers’ body in Bihar that can sensitise them about the consequences of the new laws,” added the MLC.

.