Yogendra Yadav has been barred from attending the meetings of Samyukt Kisan Morcha and being a part of the front’s decision-making for a month.
New Delhi: Samyukta Kisan Morcha – a group of 46 farmers’ unions – has suspended activist Yogendra Yadav for a month after he visited the family of a BJP worker who was killed in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence earlier this month. Had gone. Mr. Yadav, who is a member of the umbrella body, will not be able to attend any of its meetings or be part of the decision-making process.
Sources said that this action was taken in the meeting held today to demand action from the farmers’ organizations in Punjab. Manjit Singh Rai, president of the Bharatiya Kisan Union, Doaba, told NDTV that 32 farmers’ unions are on the same page on the issue and they also want a public apology from Mr. Yadav.
Sources close to Mr Yadav said he had gone to meet the BJP worker’s family last week as he felt they should.
“He said (in the meeting) that he is not sorry that he went to meet the family, but is ready to apologize for not discussing the issue with the farmers’ body earlier,” sources said.
Union Minister Ajay Mishra’s son Ashish Mishra had allegedly crushed four farmers in Lakhimpur Kheri during a protest earlier this month. Violence and arson ensued soon after, in which four others were killed.
Ashish Mishra was arrested on October 9, five days after he was named in a murder case.
Four more people, including a BJP leader, who were seen inside an SUV crushing farmers in Lakhimpur Kheri, have been arrested. These include local BJP leader Sumit Jaiswal, who in the viral video was seen running away from the lead SUV in a convoy of vehicles crushing farmers.
Sumit Jaiswal had earlier lodged a police complaint, claiming that his vehicles lost control and accidentally hit him due to stone pelting by farmers. He said in the complaint that his driver, friend and two BJP workers were later thrashed to death.
Ajay Mishra – who is the junior home minister at the Center – and his son have denied that they were present at the spot, though the minister told NDTV that the SUV belonged to his family.
The farmers and the opposition have demanded that the minister should step down and action should be taken against those responsible.