Nagpur: Eight people were killed in Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur after violence erupted on Sunday after a visit by two ministers to the district. The farmers group allege that out of the eight killed, four of them were farmers who were protesting against the controversial farm laws.
The farmers had assembled to stop the visit of Union minister and Deputy chief minister of Uttar Pradesh Keshav Maurya. It is said that one of the cars from the convoy mowed down the protesters. A leader of farmers’ union Dr Darshan Pal said that the union minister of state Ajay Mishra’s son was present in the car.
“The farmers had planned to gherao the helicopter to stop the arrival of the ministers. Once that ended and most people were on their way back, three cars came and mowed down the farmers, one of the farmers died on the spot and the other in the hospital,” Pal added.
However, Mishra denied that his son was linked to the accident. “My son wasn’t present at the spot. There were miscreants who attacked workers with sticks and swords. If my son would’ve been there, he wouldn’t have come out alive,” Mishra said in a statement.
The farmers’ union said four farmers died after being hit by the car and six others were injured. One fo the leaders of Sanyukt Kisan Morcha, Tejinder S Virak has been seriously injured and has been admitted to the hospital.
The farmers had assembled to block the visit of the two ministers. There was an outrage after Mishra’s speech last month in which he had brushed off the protests against the farm laws and claimed that it was just 10-15 people protesting against the laws and it would take just two minutes to make them fall in line.
