According to an official, eight people were killed in the violence during the farmers’ protest over the visit of UP Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya in Lakhimpur, Uttar Pradesh. Angry farmers torched two SUVs after hitting a group of protesters. A UP government official in Lucknow said that four of the dead were traveling in vehicles. Lakhimpur Kheri district magistrate Arvind Kumar Chaurasia said four farmers and four others were killed. Farmers had gathered in Banbirpur, the native village of Union Minister of State for Home and MP Ajay Kumar Mishra, to protest against Maurya’s visit. Violence broke out after two SUVs allegedly collided with a group of anti-agriculture law protesters protesting on the Tikonia-Banbirpur road.
The farmers alleged that the Union minister’s son was in a vehicle, a charge Mishra denied. Mishra said three BJP workers and a driver were lynched by some elements among the protesting farmers after a car overturned after stone-pelting. Mishra said that neither his son nor he was present at the time of the incident. Meanwhile, the incident drew a sharp reaction from opposition parties and farmers’ bodies.
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