Student Struggle Editorial Team
The Central Executive Committee of the Students’ Federation of India has released an official statement condemning the “brutal and barbaric attack” on a group of farmers who were peacefully protesting against the BJP’s anti-farmer policies and positions at Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur on Oct 3. A convoy of vehicles, led by the son of Union Minister Ajay Kumar Mishra Teni, drove over the farmers, many of them old and frail, killing around 6 and injuring many. The organisation has demanded that the culprits including Teni’s son Ashish Mishra be punished and the resignation of Minister Mishra.
Read the statement below:
Students’ Federation of India-SFI registers its vehement condemnation of the brutal and barbaric attack on the peacefully protesting farmers in Lakhimpur Kheri of Uttar Pradesh. A convoy of vehicles associated with the BJP’s Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Ajay Mishra Teni, his son, his uncle and other goons ran over several protestors killing atleast 6 and injuring many. As per reports, one of the farmers was shot dead by the son of the Union MoS Ajay Kumar Mishra Teni, Ashish (Monu) Mishra. Terai Kisan Sangathan’s leader, and SKM leader Tajinder Singh Virk has also been injured. Farmers were provoked into retaliation after the brutish attack, and vehicles of the BJP leaders were smashed and burnt.
A large number of farmers started assembling from the morning itself today in Lakhimpur Kheri district of Uttar Pradesh raising black flags in protest against Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister and Union Minister of State for Home Affairs, for the open threat issued against farmer leaders in a public meeting. Thousands of farmers with black flags occupied this morning the helipad at Maharaja Agrasen Ground to prevent the Deputy CM from landing there. The Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Mr Ajay Mishra Teni had issued an open threat to farmer leaders in a public meeting recently. The atrocity on farmers is reported to have happened as the farmers were dispersing and leaving from the protest site.
SFI expresses its condolences to the family of the farmers who were killed in the attack and our undying solidarity to the farmers’ struggle against the Corporate-Hindutva forces. The Bharatiya Janata Party has consistently adopted anti-farmer positions and allied with capitalists, even publicly calling for violence against peacefully protesting farmers. We urge the student community to rise in rage against this vicious assault on the nation’s farmers. We demand that Ajay Kumar Mishra be removed from the post of minister with immediate effect. We further demand that Mishra’s son be charged guilty and punished!
SFI calls for an immediate end to the violence against farmers and for the repeal of the three farm laws by the Modi Government.
Released by:
V P Sanu, President
Mayukh Biswas, General Secretary
Students’ Federation of India
Central Executive Committee
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