“Why is the prime minister not listening to the farmers for the last one year? Is this democracy or dictatorship? He should be answerable to the people of the nation,” said Congress leader Bhakta Charan Das.
TFM Desk
As part of the nationwide protests by the Indian National Congress against the massacre of farmers at Lakhimpur Kheri in Uttar Pradesh, the Manipur Pradesh Congress Committee on Tuesday took out a protest rally in Imphal. The rally was led by Congress leaders Jairam Ramesh, Bhakta Charan Das, MPCC president N Loken, and Congress MLAs.
The protest rally took off from Congress Bhawan, BT Road, Imphal, with a large number of Congress workers shouting slogans condemning the BJP government for the horrific incident. As the protestors went along the busy BT Road, police personnel stopped the rally. There was a scuffle before the police thwarted furthering the rally.
Speaking to media persons, Bhakta Charan Das demanded immediate unconditional release of Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi who was “kept under house arrest in UP illegally.”
The AICC Manipur in-charge asserted that PM Modi should apologise to the farmers and immediately resolve the farmers’ agitations.
“Why is the prime minister not listening to the farmers for the last one year? Is this democracy or dictatorship? He should be answerable to the people of the nation,” the visibly agitated Congress leader said.
He also lashed out at the BJP, saying “They (BJP) worship Gandhi’s photo, but behave like Godse”.
The incident
As many as eight people, including four farmers, were killed in Lakhimpur Kheri on Sunday, after a violence broke out over a visit by Union minister Ajay Kumar Mishra and UP deputy chief minister Keshav Maurya in the UP district. The protesting farmers alleged that union minister Ajay Misra Teni’s son Ashish was in one of the vehicles that ran over the protesters, according to reports.
The UP police detained Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on her way to meet the families of the four farmers who died in the violence.
Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Sunday said he was “saddened” by the violence in his state that left eight people, including four farmers, dead. He promised strict action against those responsible following an investigation and made an appeal to maintain peace.
Reports said a compromise seems to have been reached between the protesting farmers and the Uttar Pradesh government following the talks with the Rakesh Tikait-led group and the state government.
The two sides agreed on ex gratia of Rs 45 lakh each to kin of the deceased farmers, Rs 10 lakh each to those injured, government jobs to a family member of each of the four deceased farmers as per their qualification, and judicial probe into the incident of violence.