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Lakhimpur Kheri incident: No politician will be on stage during final prayers, says farmers' group
District president Sandhu said that farmers and their leaders from various states as well as from several districts of Uttar Pradesh will be present during the ‘ardas’ and ‘bhog’ programme in Tikonia.
The Bharatiya Kisan Union-Tikait (BKU-Tikait) on Monday announced that no politician will be on stage when the final prayers for the farmers killed in Lakhimpur Kheri violence is performed on Tuesday.
Preparations for the final prayers, or the antim ardas, are underway at a field, away from the spot where an SUV, allegedly carrying BJP workers and Union minister Ashish Mishra’s son, ran over four protesting farmers.
“The 'antim ardas' for all the deceased farmers will be held on Tuesday at Tikonia,” BKU-Tikait's district president Amandeep Singh Sandhu was quoted as saying by news agency PTI. The group's district vice-president Balkar Singh outlined that except the leaders of Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), the umbrella group of protesting farmers' unions, no other politicians will be allowed to be present on stage.
“No political leader will be allowed to share the stage where only Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) leaders will be present,” Balkar Singh said.
District president Sandhu said that farmers and their leaders from various states as well as from several districts of Uttar Pradesh will be present during the ‘ardas’ and ‘bhog’ programme in Tikonia. He said no other programme barring ‘antim ardas’ and ‘bhog’ has been communicated till now.
Eight people were killed on October 3, including four farmers, a local journalist, two BJP workers and the driver of the SUV, were among the others who died that day.
Farmers claim that Union minister Ajay Mishra's son Ashish Mishra was in one of the vehicles. Ashish Mishra was sent to three-day custody of the Uttar Pradesh police on Monday. The UP police got Ashish Mishra’s custody between October 12 and October 15. He was arrested on Saturday by the Uttar Pradesh police.
The death of the farmers have turned Lakhimpur Kheri into a battleground ahead of the Uttar Pradesh legislative assembly elections slated to take place next year. Several politicians like Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Akhilesh Yadav and Sushmita Dev have visited the kin of the deceased farmers.
