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‘Will continue to put forth our views till Teni resigns’: Tikait on ‘Rail Roko’ agitation
Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rakesh Tikait said Union minister Ajay Mishra ‘Teni’ will “influence the investigation” into the Lakhimpur Kheri violence case and try to “save himself”.
Following the completion of the six-hour ‘rail roko’ agitation across India, Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rakesh Tikait said the movement was “fine” and that farmer unions will plan their “further strategy.” “Until he (Union home minister of state Ajay Mishra ‘Teni’) is arrested and he resigns, we will continue putting forth our views,” he told news agency ANI.
Tikait said that Teni, whose son is an accused in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence case, cannot “roam out in the open.” The BKU leader said that Teni will “influence the investigation” into the case and will try to save himself so the Centre must dismiss him as the minister.
The Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), an umbrella body for dozens of farmer unions, called the six-hour-long stir between 10am and 4pm on Monday, demanding the removal of Teni as the Union minister for the involvement of his son Ashish Mishra in the Lakhimpur violence case. As many as eight people, including four farmers, lost their lives in the October 3 incident after two SUVs ran over a group of protesters and the violence that ensued.
Throughout the day rail operations were massively impacted due to the agitation with farmers blocking the railway tracks in several areas in Haryana and Punjab by staging sit-ins and even squatting on them. Authorities in Haryana’s Sonipat railway station deployed personnel of the Rapid Action Force (RAF) in order to maintain security.
As many as 50 trains across 130 locations in Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan were affected due to the ‘rail roko’ agitation, ANI reported quoting a Northern Railway official. However, no such case was reported from Uttar Pradesh where police have imposed Section 144 of CrPC, prohibiting gathering of multiple people in one area.
As per the latest updates, 10 accused have so far been arrested by the police, including Ashish Mishra. Sumit Jaiswal, Shishupal, Nandan Singh and Satya Prakash Tripathi were arrested on Monday by Lakhimpur Police and the SWAT team of the crime branch, according to ANI. Mishra and his alleged accomplice Ashish Pandey were denied bail by a court in Lakhimpur Kheri last week.
