BKU’s Rakesh Tikait leaves for Lakhimpur Kheri where farmers protest turned violent

Ghaziabad, October 3

Bharatiya Kisan Union leader Rakesh Tikait on Sunday left for Lakhimpur Kheri along with his several supporters amid reports of violence there during a farmers’ protest in which several people have been injured.

While leaving Ghazipur on the Delhi-Ghaziabad border for Lakhimpur Kheri, Tikait, the BKU’s national spokesperson, claimed that “several farmers” are feared dead during the violence in which two vehicles were also allegedly set on fire.

There was, however, no official word yet by the Lakhimpur Kheri administration or the police on deaths or injuries during the incident in which two SUVs allegedly ran over protestors and firing also took place.

“The farmers in Lakhimpur were returning after the protest when they were attacked. Some of them were run over, while fire was also opened on them. According to the information we have so far, several people have died in the incident,” Tikait said in a purported video message he posted on Twitter.

The violence broke out after two SUVs allegedly ran over a group of anti-farm law protesters who were demonstrating against the visit of Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya at Tikonia-Banbirpur road in Lakhimpur Kheri district, some 130 km off state capital Lucknow.

Unconfirmed reports claimed a number of farmers were seriously injured in the incident. Angry protesters allegedly forced the two vehicles to stop and set them on fire. They also allegedly thrashed some passengers. —PTI