By Thomas Scaria
Mangaluru, Oct. 4, 2021: Farmer unions associated with the Church on October 4 condemned the killing of their counterparts protesting in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.
“We strongly condemn the brutal way the government suppresses protesting farmers,” Joy Kannanchira, the chairman of the “We Farm” movement in Kerala, southern India, told Matters India.
Four farmers were among eight persons killed and some 15 severely wounded on October 3 after a car, allegedly part of a convoy of a federal minister’s son, ran over them in the Tikunia village of Lakhimpur Kheri district.
The farmers, who had gathered there to protest against three contentious farm laws, have accused the minister’s son of driving the car involved in the accident. However, the minister has denied the charge. The farmer protest was held to block two ministers from visiting the village.
Farmers across India have protested the farm laws for the past one year. Thousands of them have camped on the borders of the national capital since November 26, 2020.
Kannanchira was among 13 farmers from who had participated in the New Delhi rally a few months ago. He described the farmers’ protest as “the largest people’s movement against rulers after India’s freedom struggle.”
The farmer leader from Kerala says they will join their counterparts in Uttar Pradesh if the government remains insensitive to the farmers’ demands.
According to the “We Farm” leaders, the farmers’ struggle is for India’s survival. “We have undertaken a massive plan to create awareness among the public in Kerala about the dangers of the farm laws.”
The farm laws, Kannanchira warns, will be affected everyone in Kerala, a consumer state.
Meanwhile Prashant Kumar, Additional Director General of Police for law and order in Uttar Pradesh, on October 4 said they have registered two first information reports on the violence. One is against Ashish, the son of minister Ajay Mishra, and 13 others for murder and rioting.
Later, he announced that the Uttar Pradesh government will give 4.3 million rupees each to the families of the dead and a government job to each family. The injured will be given 1 million rupees.
The government has asked a retired high court judge top robe the incident.
Police have arrested around ten people, including farmers.
An arson that followed the car incident killed a driver and four others, mostly belonged to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.
The administration suspended the mobile internet in parts of the district to control the situation. It imposed prohibitory orders that banned the entry of people from Punjab to the Lakhimpur Kheri area. The police put up barricades at the Uttar Pradesh-Delhi border at Ghaziabad, leading to traffic delays on National Highway 24.
According to News18, one of the victims was journalist Raman Kashyap, who had gone missing after the incident. His family identified his body on October 4.
The farm laws were passed by the Indian parliament in September 2020. The Supreme Court has halted their implementation.
Kannanchira alleges that the government has pledged everything to corporate firms. “How do we trust the government?” he asked. The protesting farmers do not believe the government promise that the laws aim to ensure them minimum price for their produces.
Father Faustine Lobo, who has directed the Church’s social apostolate in Karnataka for years, says the farmers’ situation in India is “already pathetic and they are on the verge of suicides.”
According to him, the farm laws are nothing but hypothecating the farmers with the corporates and pledging them for gains. “The storage houses are already constructed, the deal is done with prominent corporates, and sadly, no one cares,” bemoaned the priest who has led farmers movements in Karnataka.
“We have to pledge our support to farmers and empower them,” Father Lobo told Matters India.
He too says the farm laws will affected even the consumers as they allow the corporates to control agriculture in India.