Farmers block rail tracks in Amritsar on first anniversary of Lakhimpur killing
Amritsar, October 03 (KMS): Members of the Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee (KMSC) in Punjab blocked rail traffic for three hours on Monday on the first anniversary of the Lakhimpur Kheri violence that claimed eight lives including four farmers.
The protesters demanded the sacking of Indian minister of state for home Ajay Mishra as they cited the involvement of his son in mowing down farmers protesting against the three farm laws that have now been repealed.
“We are holding a protest at 17 locations in the region. Rail traffic is blocked on the Amritsar-Delhi, Amritsar-Khemkaran and Amritsar-Pathankot routes. We will burn the effigy of the central government at eight locations, namely Muktsar, Mansa, Barnala, Malerkotla, Sangrur, Fatehgarh Sahib, Rupnagar and Nabha to protest the lack of action against Mishra,” said KMSC general secretary Sarwan Singh Pandher.
Thousands of farmers were staging a protest at Tikunia village in UP’s Lakhimpur Kheri on 3 October last year against a visit of then Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya when four farmers were crushed under the wheels of a convoy of cars. In the subsequent violence, four others, including two BJP workers and a journalist, were killed.