Farmer leader Rakesh Tikait is “do kaudi ka aadmi (worthless)”, declared Union minister Ajay Mishra Teni, whose son Ashish is in jail over allegations of running over farmers. Teni also apparently referred to protesting farmers as “dogs barking and chasing his car” during a controversial speech live-streamed by his supporters.
The remarks were made on Monday, two days after a farmers’ agitation in Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur Kheri district was called off after top district officials met the protesters. Th farmers, during their 75-hour-long agitationdemanded removal of Teni and a law guaranteeing minimum support price (MSP).
“The media, the so-called farmers, the non-nationalistic political parties or terrorists sitting in Canada or Pakistan, I would never have imagined you would make me popular with them too. This is your strength. Because of you these people cannot figure out how to defeat me. The elephant keeps moving on its path, dogs keep barking,” he said.
“No one in the world will be able to disappoint you. No matter how many Rakesh Tikaits come – I know him very well, ‘do kaudi ka aadmi hai’, he fought two elections and lost his deposit (lost badly). If such a person protests, I do not respond. If his politics survives because of this, let it. I have never done anything wrong in my life,” the minister further said.
The farmer leaders on Saturday — during their 75-hour agitation — accused the state and central governments of betraying them. Political analyst Yogendra Yadav also demanded Mishra’s resignation and expressed his apprehension that Ajay Mishra could use his political clout to influence the investigation and protect his jailed son, Ashish.
“Why hasn’t the minister been sacked?” asked Tejinder Singh Verk, a farmer leader. A report in The Wire further quoted him as saying that in the government’s constituted panel on MSP, the majority of the members are from the BJP-affiliated groups.
Gurmeet Singh, a farmer, was also quoted as saying that Ajay Mishra’s position as the Union minister could influence the investigation in this case.
Eight persons, including four farmers and a journalist, were killed on October 3 last year after they were run over by a car that was allegedly part of a convoy of vehicles in which the Ajay Mishra’s son was travelling. At least twelve people were severely injured in the incident.
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