Lakhimpur Kheri: Deepender Hooda said that the farmers are the heroes of the movement. (file)
Sitapur:
Senior Congress leader Deepender Singh Hooda on Monday said the farmers’ movement in Lakhimpur Kheri would herald a change of government in Uttar Pradesh, as it did after the Bhatta Parsaul incident a decade ago.
“I was part of Bhatta Parsaul movement and took part in the march on foot. The then BSP government had targeted farmers in total disregard for their self-respect. Today, the same situation exists. After Bhatta Parsaul, there was one Uttar Pradesh There is a possibility to change the government in the state and now change the government in the state.
In 2011, two policemen and two farmers were killed in clashes following land acquisition protests in Greater Noida’s Bhatta Parsaul, a Jat-dominated village that had become the center of an agitation against land acquisition in the country.
At the time, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had visited Bhatta Parsaul to hide his identity and was being run by his senior party colleague Digvijay Singh as a symbol of solidarity with the farmers against land acquisition under the then Mayawati. Went on a two wheeler. Government in Uttar Pradesh.
Mr Hooda, one of the four Congress leaders including party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who were detained in Sitapur when they were on their way to Lakhimpur to meet the family members of the deceased farmers on Sunday night, accused the ruling BJP. Claims rejected. Worked a lot for the welfare of farmers.
“If it had worked well for the farmers, the farmers would not have had to protest on the streets,” he said.
On the allegations leveled by the BJP that non-farmers, especially political activists, barged into the farmers’ protest at Lakhimpur Kheri on Sunday, leading to the incident, Mr Hooda said, “The protests are led by farmers and they are heroes. are movement. Every farmer is emotionally attached to this movement. As a responsible opposition, we are fully supporting it and we have the right to do so.”
With the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) attacking the opposition for raising the issue of farmers in the wake of next year’s Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, he insisted that the issue of farmers is much bigger than the election.
Asked whether his party would give tickets to the family members of farmers who lost their lives in Sunday’s violence, the Congress leader said, “It is a farmers’ issue, which is bigger than elections.”
Intensifying his attack on the BJP, he accused the BJP of being arrogant and paying less attention to the demands of the farmers.
“The BJP has occupied the throne of arrogance by ignoring the demands of the farmers, from where’turban‘Farmers are not visible,’ Hooda said.
Recalling the moments late Sunday night, when the Congress delegation was leaving for Lakhimpur, he said only four party leaders decided to go as Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) was imposed in the area. Was.
Hooda said, “We were stopped at every crossroads. Had such number of security forces been deployed in Lakhimpur Kheri, the violence could have been prevented.”
Referring to Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Kumar Mishra, he said, “The incident has put humanity to shame. The minister has not yet resigned nor has he been removed. He should resign on moral grounds.” An FIR has been registered at Tikonia police station in connection with Sunday’s incident.
Mr Hooda also claimed that Congress leaders, including Priyanka Gandhi, were beaten up by policemen, adding, “It is not an issue. The real issue is of farmers.”
Eight people were killed, in which both farmers and BJP workers lost their lives in violence that broke out during farmers’ protests in Lakhimpur Kheri on Sunday ahead of the visit of Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya.
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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