Not Jai Kisan, Kill Kisan, BJP’s new slogan
By abhay mokashi
A day after several leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) swore by Mahatma Gandhi and Lal Bahadur Shastri on their birth anniversary, the party showed its true colours once again, this time in Lakhimpur Kheri in Uttar Pradesh by running cars over protesting farmers protesting against the farm laws introduced last year by the Union Government. It shows that the party neither believes in Gandhiji’s non-violence nor Shastri Jai Jawan policy.
At least six persons have died in the incident and a few others are injured, some of them grievously.
Black flag demonstrations, rallies, protests and dharnas are common in the country and no political party can say that it has not resorted to at least one of these means of protests; if a party claims that it has not indulged in any such agitation, it can be said that it does not work in the interest of the public at large.
Such forms of protest are a part and parcel of democracy and should be used, as long as such acts are peaceful and non-violent. That is what the farmers were doing in Lakhimpur Kheri on Sunday. They were protesting peacefully against the governments—Central and State. The farmers blocked the road to stop the vehicles of BJP leaders, who were participating a function where Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Mishra Teni and Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya were to attend.
Reports say that one of cars stopped by the protesting farmers belonged to Mishra Teni’s son, Ajay, who alleged ran his car over the protesting farmers, crushing them, with some of them succumbing to the injuries on the spot and some died in the hospital.
The incident, though shocking and painful should not come as a surprise, as the incident has to be seen in the light of several other incidents preceding it and the training of the BJP cadre, by its ideological parent organisation, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
Recently, two BJP leaders have made statements, which if made by anybody other than a BJP member, would have invited penal action by the current governments at the Centre and most other states.
The first is a statement by Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, where while stating that there is a need for smaller organisations of farmers to mushroom, he told the gathering that the time has come to challenge the farmers and sticks should be used against them.
On September 25, 2021 Ajay Mishra Teni had stated at a public meeting that the farmers have been protesting, but if he had gone there, they would have found it difficult to run away too. He went on, “People know what I was before I became a legislator or a Member of Parliament. I put all my effort to meet a challenge that I accept.” He then said (to protesting farmers to) “improve…otherwise it will take only two minutes”. This has been seen as a threat by the farmers and that is what happened. It must have taken less than two minutes to crush the farmers under the car.
The Union Minister of State for Home has clearly hinted that he was (and may still be) a thug and how can one forget that his boss, the Union Home Minister was externed from his home state.
While the incident has to be condemned, the retaliatory violence by the farmers, also needs to be condemned. Yet, it is to the credit of the protesting farmers and their leaders that the agitation has been peaceful over the last ten years. Sunday’s violence by some farmers, was a reaction to the deliberate ramming of cars on the protestors.
The RSS excels in spreading hatred and the cadre is trained to hate, anyone who does not agree with its ideology. Young minds are poisoned to hate Muslims and Christians and the brain is programmed to desist from use of logic and facts, and merely to follow the leader, as a result even when they grow in age and size, they function as programmed robots.
It is due to such programming that the followers do not see reality affecting the country and those few who see it, are conditioned to think that it is for the good of the country.
It is tragic that more and more people are now programmed to blindly believe in Prime Minister Narendra Modi, RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat and some other leaders of BJP and RSS. That is the reason, a large section of the population is not bothered about the situation of the farmers or the fact that over 600 protesting farmers have lost their lives during the agitation, to add to it is the killing of the farmers under vehicles on Sunday.
The Delhi Police, which is under the Centre, has used various means—water cannons, barricades, lathi charge to crush the farmers’ protest, but it failed. The Sikhs are in large numbers among the protesting farmers and belong to a community known for its valour and for service to society.
The BJP should understand that a community, which has faced military tanks on ground and fighter jets in the air, cannot be made to retreat by a couple of cars!