Lakhimpur Kheri (UP): A farmers' agitation seeking the removal of Union Minister Ajay Kumar Mishra and a law guaranteeing Minimum Support Price among other demands was called off on Saturday after top district officials met the protesters, farmer leader Rakesh Tikait said. Addressing the farmers, he said Samyukta Kisan Morcha's (SKM) future strategy will be chalked out during a meeting in Delhi on September 6.
District Magistrate Mahendra Bahadur Singh and others arrived at Rajapur Mandi Samiti in Lakhimpur city, the dharna site, around 2.30 pm and received memoranda by the farmers. The officials assured the farmers that a meeting at the government level will be arranged in the first week of September, before Tikait and other farmer leaders ended the stir which ran for 75 hours. The leaders said their agitation started with the arrival of farmers from Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and different parts of Uttar Pradesh from Wednesday night.
Lakhimpur Kheri is represented in Lok Sabha by Mishra, the Union Minister of State for Home. His son Ashish Mishra is an accused in the violence that took place on October 3 last year in which four farmers and a journalist were among the eight people killed. Earlier in the day, a proposed street march of the farmers was called off after an hour-long negotiation with the district authorities.
"The march of farmers up to the district collector's office on Saturday was called off following assurance from the district authorities to schedule a meeting with the chief minister," Tikait, who led the six-member delegation to talk to district authorities, said. The delegation of SKM leaders, also including Joginder Singh Ugraha, Dilbagh Singh Sandhu, Ranjit Singh Raju, Ravinder Singh Patiyala and Gur Amanpreet Singh Mangat held a closed door meeting with Deputy Inspector General Akhilesh Chaurasiya, District Magistrate Mahendra Bahadur Singh, Superintendent of Police Sanjiv Suman and Chief Development Officer Anil Singh at the Mandi Samiti office.
The agitation had gained strength with SKM core committee member Darshan Singh Pal, Swaraj India national convener Yogendra Yadav and social activist Medha Patkar addressing the dharna on the first day itself. Addressing the agitating farmers, the SKM core committee members, including Tejinder Singh Virk and Dr Ashish Mittal, had informed that their leaders would hand over two charters of demands to the Kheri district administration, one to be forwarded to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and the other to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Elaborating on the content of the memoranda, they said the one addressed to Adityanath would demand full implementation of the agreement between Tikait and the Uttar Pradesh officials on October 4, 2021. The five-point memorandum would also press for immediate payment of pending cane dues, free electricity to farmers, stopping prepaid metres on domestic power connections, check over stray animals and compensation to drought-hit farmers.
Mittal said the memorandum for the prime minister would stress on the demand to sack Mishra from the Union cabinet in view of his role in the violence, release of innocent farmers, implementation of Swaminathan report with MSP on C2+50 per cent formula, withdrawal of cases against farmers and withdrawal of electricity amendment bill. On Friday, Tikait had exhorted farmers to be ready for a massive nationwide agitation over their demands.
The SKM had organised protests on Delhi's borders for more than a year against the Centre's three farm laws, which were subsequently repealed The dharna here witnessed women activists from the Kisan Sangarsh Samiti from neighbouring Sitapur reciting poems highlighting farmers' struggle and volunteers serving food to the protesting farmers from langars (community kitchens) round the clock. The district authorities had also made arrangements for water tankers and mobile toilets. A heavy deployment of police personnel was also made in and around the Mandi Samiti to keep a close watch and maintain law and order. (PTI)
