The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) called for a six-hour-long nationwide ''Rail roko'' agitation on Monday demanding the removal of Union Minister of State (MoS) for Home Affairs Ajay Mishra Teni from the Union Cabinet over the Lakhimpur Kheri incident, in which his son Ashish Mishra Teni is an accused.
A statement issued by the umbrella body of farmers' unions read, "To press for its demand for Ajay Mishra's dismissal and arrest, so that justice can be secured in Lakhimpur Kheri violence, SKM has announced a nation-wide rail roko program on October 18."
"SKM put out a call to its constituents to stop rail traffic for six hours on October 18, between 10 am and 4 pm. SKM asked for this action to be taken up peacefully, without any destruction and damage of any kind to any railway property," it further read.
A total of eight people including four farmers died in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence. SKM had alleged Ashish Mishra shot a farmer while the others were run over by the vehicles of his convey.
However, MoS Teni had refuted the allegations saying that his son was not present at the site of the incident. Ashish reiterated the same and refuted SKM's allegations.
Later, three people, including Ashish Mishra, were arrested in the case.
Here are Highlights on Rail Roko Protest:
Four more people, including a BJP leader who was seen inside the SUV that mowed down protesting farmers in Uttar Pradesh's Lakhimpur Kheri, have been arrested.
The Delhi Police said there were no reports of any disturbance in the national capital due to Samyukt Kisan Morcha's six-hour "rail roko" protest to demand the dismissal and arrest of Union Minister Ajay Mishra in connection with the Lakhimpur Kheri incident. Deputy Commissioner of Police (Railways) Harendra Kumar Singh said, "We have not received any report of disturbance in Delhi."
Farmers in Punjab and elsewhere were seen squatting on rail tracks as part of their protest. Four sections of the Ferozepur division were blocked by the protesters, said a railway official. The Ferozepur-Fazilka section in Ferozepur city and the Ferozepur-Ludhiana section at Ajitwal in Moga were affected, he added.
Pressing for Union Minister Ajay Mishra's dismissal and arrest over the #LakhimpurKheriViolence case in #UttarPradesh, the farmers' body is holding a six-hour-long nationwide ''#RailRoko'' agitation.
- NDTV (@ndtv) October 18, 2021
NDTV's Mohammed Ghazali reports from Mohali, Punjab. pic.twitter.com/ulZAyG3S0C
#FarmersProtest | #Farmers try to break through barricades at Hapur Railway Station in Western #UttarPradesh.
- NDTV (@ndtv) October 18, 2021
Samyukt Kisan Morcha has called for a nationwide '#RailRokoAndolan' against the #LakhimpurKheri incdident. pic.twitter.com/4Vqntm5gNd
#LakhimpurKheriViolence | Farmers' Body's '#RailRoko' Protest Ongoing
- NDTV (@ndtv) October 18, 2021
Live updates: https://t.co/s5LoviEnYm
NDTV's Mohammed Ghazali reports pic.twitter.com/CeGq4k9R3f
#FarmersProtest | Protestors block railway tracks at Bahadurgarh in protest against the #LakhimpurKheri incident. #RailRokoAndolan pic.twitter.com/Tbm4EiSvUr
- NDTV (@ndtv) October 18, 2021
#RailRoko Today Seeks Minister's Resignation Over #UttarPradesh Farmers' Killing
- NDTV (@ndtv) October 18, 2021
Read more: https://t.co/b9GUEIGdxT
NDTV's Alok Pandey reports pic.twitter.com/rhYI6PyFez
- Last week, Rahul Gandhi-led Congress delegation urged President Ram Nath Kovind to sack the minister whose son is accused of mowing down protesting farmers in UP. The President, in turn, has said he will speak to the government over the issue, said the Congress.
- The Congress, in its memorandum to the President, said dismissal of the Union Minister is pertinent for a fair probe in the matter, which they say is also the demand of the farmer families who lost their loved ones.
- Terming the Lakhimpur incident "absolutely condemnable", Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said issues of such nature happen in other parts of India equally which should be raised "when they happen and not when it suits others" because there is a BJP government in Uttar Pradesh.
- BJP MP Varun Gandhi - dumped from his party's National Executive this month after calling for justice for the families of farmers killed in Lakhimpur Kheri - tweeted an old video of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee warning the government against intimidating farmers.
Pressing for Union Minister Ajay Mishra's dismissal and arrest over Lakhimpur incident in Uttar Pradesh, in which his son has been arrested, the farmers' body has called for a six-hour long nationwide ''Rail roko'' agitation. Read more
- Pressing for Union Minister Ajay Mishra's dismissal and arrest over Lakhimpur incident in Uttar Pradesh, in which his son has been arrested, the farmers' body has called for a six-hour long nationwide ''Rail roko'' agitation.
- The Samyukta Kisan Morcha, an umbrella body of farmers' unions, said it will hold a peaceful nationwide rail roko protest from 10 am to 4 pm for justice in Lakhimpur Kheri violence in Uttar Pradesh.
- Union Minister of state for Home Ajay Mishra's son, Ashish, has been arrested in the case, but the farmers' body say that as long as the minister is in the government justice cannot be secured in the matter.
- Eight people, including four farmers, were killed in Lakhimpur when a car belonging to the minister ran over them on October 3. Farmers have alleged that the minister's son mowed down the protesting farmers.
- The minister had refuted the allegations saying that his son was not present at the site of the incident. His son has reiterated the same and denied the allegation.