Keeping the politicians away, allowing entry to top farmer leaders, rushing a senior-level team on Sunday night to speak to the protesting farmers and accepting their demands promptly – this is how the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh managed to quickly defuse the tension in Lakhimpur Kheri within 24 hours of the horrific incident that had left eight persons dead.
“The farmers never had any issue with the state government. In fact, they had trust in the state government to resolve the matter. We allowed the farmer leaders to come to Lakhimpur and accepted their demands. The entry of political leaders was not allowed as the situation was sensitive,” the state’s additional director general (law and order), Prashant Kumar, told News18.
Kumar led the talks with the farmer leaders after rushing there on Sunday night on the directions of UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. He was accompanied, on the CM’s directions, by additional chief secretary Devesh Chaturvedi, Lucknow Commissioner Ranjan Kumar and IG (Lucknow) Lakshmi Singh. They held talks with the farmer leaders at length.
A tactical move was made to not block the entry of farmer leader Rakesh Tikait to Lakhimpur and he was allowed to come last night. Sources say blocking entry of farmer leaders could have agitated the farmers even more and, hence, the same was avoided, and the government chose to speak to the senior leaders rather than the agitators who were in high tempers at the spot.
All monetary relief demands put forth by the farmer leaders were accepted. An FIR was promptly lodged late Sunday night on the complaint of the farmers against the son of Minister of State, Home, Ajay Mishra Teni on charges of murder to placate the farmers. Internet services were disrupted in Lakhimpur to stop circulation of false rumours that could enrage the farmers and disrupt talks.
Promptly Resolving Issues Has Become ‘Hallmark of Yogi Govt’
The government also went to great lengths to stop the entry of political leaders to Lakhimpur as it was certain that these leaders would not allow a compromise to happen, sources in the UP government say. So while the aircraft and chopper of Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel and Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi were denied permission for landing in Lucknow, leaders like Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Akhilesh Yadav and Jayant Choudhary were blocked from going to Lakhimpur.
In an interview with News18, senior minister Sidharth Nath Singh said these leaders only wanted to take political mileage by visiting a sensitive location immediately and it would be better if they go there after a gap of 48 hours.
After the incident on Sunday, it was a surprising sight for many to see farmer leader Rakesh Tikait and ADG Prashant Kumar hold a joint press conference at around 2pm on Monday and announce the ‘compromise’ formula after which the bodies of the four dead farmers were shifted for post-mortem.
BJP spokesperson Rakesh Tripathi told News18 that resolving such major issues promptly has become the hallmark of the Yogi government, citing the recent murder case of Gorakhpur where the accused policemen were booked within 24 hours, earning applause from the victim’s family. “This government respects the public sentiments and addresses them promptly to defuse tensions,” Tripathi said.
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