Highlight
- On Wednesday, the farmers of Punjab left for Lakhimpur Kheri to join the dharna.
- Farmers will also demand to withdraw the cases registered against them
- They will also demand compensation to the families of farmers killed during the protests.
Farmers protest: The United Kisan Morcha (SKM) will hold a sit-in from today (August 18) to August 20, demanding justice in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence case. Punjab farmers on Wednesday left for Lakhimpur Kheri in Uttar Pradesh to participate in a 72-hour-long sit-in against the Center on the call of the United Kisan Morcha.
As per the details, farmers will hold protests in all districts of Uttar Pradesh and several states including Punjab, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.
Through the agitation, the farmers will also demand the withdrawal of cases registered against them during the previous agitation, which were against the Centre’s now withdrawn agricultural laws.
The farmers will also push for a legal guarantee of minimum support price for crops along with compensation to the families of farmers killed during the year-long protests.
They also demanded the sacking of Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Mishra, whose son Ashish was arrested in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence case.
Eight people, including four farmers, were killed in Lakhimpur Kheri on October 3 last year when farmers protested against the visit of Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya.
Bharti Kisan Union (Ekta-Ugrahan) president Joginder Singh Ugrahan said on Wednesday that they are going to Lakhimpur Kheri on the call of SKM.
“We will take part in a 72-hour-long dharna there,” he said.
BKU (Ekta-Ugrahan) general secretary Sukhdev Singh Kokrikalan said around 2,000 farmers, including women, left for Uttar Pradesh to take part in the protests.
BKU (Doaba) President Manjit Singh Rai said that 10,000 farmers from Punjab will take part in the protest.
“Some are going in trains and some are going on their vehicles,” Rai said.
(with inputs from PTI)