'We don't trust the prime minister's words on repealing the laws because he had promised us that he will implement the Swaminathan Commission report, but he never did.'
A man was shot dead in police firing in Telangana's Secunderabad, trains went up in flames, and public and private vehicles attacked, as railway stations and highways turned into battleground in many states on Friday amid burgeoning protests against Agnipath, the contentious defence recruitment scheme.
There was heavy police deployment at most of the crossings in the district, around 150 km from Uttar Pradesh's capital city, Lucknow.
The districts where polling was held were Pilibhit, Lakhimpur Kheri, Sitapur, Hardoi, Unnao, Lucknow, Rae Bareli, Banda, and Fatehpur.
Dramatic scenes unfolded at Nayagaon-Jaora toll booth in Ratlam where Scindia, his party colleague Kantilal Bhuria and a large number of their supporters were detained. They were proceeding to neighbouring Mandsaur where prohibitory orders barring assembly of more than four people are still in force.
Panthic politics came easily to Parkash Singh Badal. But he was quick to abandon it when it became a problem, points out Aditi Phadnis.
Amid tight security, the three accused were taken to the site of the incident on the Tikonia-Banbirpur road, around 60 km from district headquarters Lakhimpur city, police said.
The court sent Sumit Jaiswal, Satya Prakash Tripathi alias Satyam, Nandan Singh Bishta and Shishu Pal to police remand.
"There are other senior leaders who also have not got a place in the executive committee. New people should also get an opportunity. I am aware of my duties and serving the people of my constituency is my first duty," she stressed.
People may belong to any caste and religion, they are not safe, the Congress leader alleged.
The idea of three capitals has not been abandoned, even as the state lurches from financial crisis to crisis.
The Congress general secretary asked the prime minister, in Lucknow on Tuesday to inaugurate a programme of the 'Azadi ka Amrut Mahotsav' celebrations, to visit Lakhimpur Kheri and give justice to the farmers.
Union minister of state (MoS) for home affairs Ajay Mishra Teni's son Ashish Mishra, who has been accused in Lakhimpur Kheri incident, has been sent to three-day police remand with conditions on Monday.
Modi can waive loans of the country's rich but can't do the same for farmers, he said.
Jail Superintendent P P Singh said Ashish will be kept in a separate barrack in the jail due to security reasons.
The delegation demands the immediate dismissal of Minister of State for Home Ajay Kumar Mishra over the Lakhimpur Kheri violence.
NCP president Sharad Pawar on Friday reiterated that the Income Tax Department's raids on Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar's relatives and aides came after his comparison of the Lakhimpur Kheri violence in Uttar Pradesh to the Jallianwala Bagh massacre during the British rule.
It was not that differences did not crop up over other issues between the two erstwhile allies, but Parkash Singh Badal always ensured that these were amicably resolved and the ties remained intact.
In the all-party meeting on Tuesday, Opposition parties demanded discussions on price rise, unemployment and Economically Weaker Section (EWS) quota among other issues, sources said.
Security forces are carrying out searches in various areas to nab the six terrorists, the source said.
On Opposition's relentless attack on him and demand for his resignation, the minister said, "Vipaksh to kuch bhi mangta hai (Opposition can demand anything)."
Tikait said the minister's son was seen by many people at the spot on the fateful day.
"The UP government has not yet given permission for Rahul Gandhi's visit to Lakhimpur and has asked him not to come," Lucknow Police Commissioner D K Thakur told PTI.
Das, the Trinamool worker and a prominent representative of Bhumi Uchched Pratirodh Committee was hit with sharp weapons by miscreants at Tengua bazar and died on the spot on Tuesday night.
Nivar which wreaked havoc in 18 districts of the state has claimed four lives besides leaving several cattle dead and over 2,000 trees uprooted, Palaniswami said, a day after the very severe storm made landfall.
BJP president J P Nadda on Sunday promised Uniform Civil Code (UCC) and 33 per cent reservation for women in government jobs in Himachal Pradesh while releasing the party's manifesto for the state assembly polls.
The Congress has alleged that she was arrested on Monday while she was on her way to Lakhimpur Kheri.
'We see different people bringing different resentments and we feel this is the result of the deprivation of an identity because of the reintroduction of Hindi, the Hindutva overtones in the national discourse, the betrayal of the Dravidian parties and even small things like the Devanagiri script in the Rs 2,000 note.'
The decision to roll back the farm laws will go a long way in placating the community, which had backed the saffron party wholeheartedly in the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha polls besides the 2017 assembly polls, and may queer the opposition's pitch for forging a social alliance of Jats and several smaller communities with Muslims, another numerically strong group in the region, against the BJP, its leaders hope.
Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel and Punjab Deputy CM Sukhjinder S Randhawa had announced that they would visit Lakhimpur on Monday.
The Uttar Pradesh government on Tuesday told the Supreme Court that decision to challenge the grant of bail by the Allahabad high court to Ashish Mishra is pending consideration before the relevant authorities.
"I am being targeted for a decade-old case, there is an attempt to suppress my voice. Rajasthan Police team came to arrest me. Someone told me plan was being made to kill me in an encounter," the VHP president claimed.
'They will somehow survive the pandemic, but if these laws are not amended for the benefit of farmers, or is not scrapped altogether, they will surely die of penury and exploitation.'
'Kudos to the SC & the CJI for standing up to the Govt on the gross misuse of this colonial law of sedition to silence dissent'
Chaudhary, who took 13 hours to reach Lakhimpur Kheri from Delhi, several hours more than it would take to cover the 420 km-odd distance, also met the families of some of the farmer victims to learn their story of loss.
The Uttar Pradesh government grappled on Monday with the aftermath of violence during a farmers protest in Lakhimpur Kheri, lodging a case against Union minister Ajay Mishra's son, promising a probe by a retired high court judge and stopping opposition leaders from reaching the trouble spot.
Gandhi also charged that the focus of the Uttar Pradesh government has been propaganda and public relations instead of welfare of people.
The 18-year-old was the youngest of four labourers killed when the boundary wall of a housing society collapsed on them at Jal Vayu Vihar in Sector 21 in Noida.
'The Centre and state need to take a unified approach and take concerted action before this matter assumes menacing proportions because unemployment, the drug trade and the levels of frustration among the youth make them vulnerable to any maverick who promises something better.'
The MPs criticised the Shiromani Akali Dal leadership for being in the Bharatiya Janata Party-led NDA even after these bills were proposed by the government.
