Lakhimpur Kheri violence: Punjab farmers observe black day, burn effigies of Union Minister Ajay Mishra Teni, his son Ashish

Chandigarh, October 3

Farmer unions today observed a black day across the state to mark the second anniversary of the Lakhimpur Kheri incident in which four protesting farmers and a journalist were run over by an SUV allegedly on the directions of the son of a Union Minister.

Protests were held at 39 places in 17 districts by members of the Bhartiya Kisan Union (Ekta-Ugrahan). They paid tributes to the farmers, who had been protesting against the three farm laws. Effigies of Union Minister Ajay Kumar Mishra Teni and his son Ashish Mishra, who is alleged to have masterminded the massacre, were burnt.

General secretary of the BKU (Ekta-Ugrahan) Sukhdev Singh Kokri Kalan said a large number of women and the youth from about 1,200 villages participated in the demonstrations. They were demanding the arrest of the minister and his son. They also demanded that the cases filed against farm leaders should be withdrawn, every family member of the martyrs should be given a government job, the treatment cost of all injured should be reimbursed and the adequate compensation for their work losses should be given.

Meanwhile, other five farmer unions led by their leaders Balbir Singh Rajewal, Prem Singh Bhangu, Kanwalpreet Singh Pannu, Bogh Singh Mansa and Harjinder Singh Tanda also paid tributes to the martyrs. They said the fight would go on until the innocent farmers were cleared of the murder charge and the accused responsible for the murder of farmers were given strict punishment.