Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, May 30: Farmer leader Rakesh Tikait, who successfully led the 13-month long farmers’ agitation against three contentious farm laws that ended with the Narendra Modi government repealing the acts last year, was attacked allegedly by some BJP supporters in Bengaluru on Monday.
Tikait, who was in Bengaluru to clarify some allegations levelled against him by another farm leader about brokering an end to the farmers’ agitation, was attacked and black ink thrown at him while he was addressing a press conference at the Gandhi Bhavan on Monday. Tikait was attacked with a microphone and then ink was thrown at him. Three people have been detained in the case and investigation is underway, said the police.
As he was seated on the dais and another farmer leader was addressing the media, a man out of the blue rushed to the stage and attacked Tikait with a television mic. Before Tikait recovered from it, another man threw black ink on him. One of the attackers shouted slogans “Modi, Modi.” Visuals showed a man approaching Tikait and hitting with a microphone placed before him. Another man then throws ink at him.
Chaos followed as the farmer leader’s supporters rush to protect him. Visuals also showed chairs being flung around as chaos erupts at the venue. Other farmers in the hall soon rushed to catch the culprits. As they tried to flee, some threw chairs at them and they were soon caught and handed over to the police.
Tikait, a leader of Bharatiya Kisan Union and the face of the farmers’ movement against the now repealed agricultural laws, was in Bengaluru to address allegations allegedly made by Kodihalli Chandrashekhar in a sting operation recently aired by a Kannada news channel in which he had allegedly claimed that Tikait had been trying to broker an end to the 13-month-long farmers’ movement in New Delhi by taking money and colluding with the union government. “It is a conspiracy by the BJP and failure on part of the government to provide security cover despite requests being made a day before the programme,” one of the organisers alleged.
Tikait, speaking to media persons, condemned the physical attack on him. “I never expected a physical assault in Karnataka. A media channel that had done the sting operation was asking provocative questions with an aim to increase their TRP. Then suddenly a person walked up to the stage and hit me with a mic. Luckily I used my hand to block the blows, failing which I would have suffered a head injury. My hands are swollen,” he said, adding the incident was a failure of the State government. “There were intelligence people in the room. How did this happen? This was a well pre planned attack. I demand the police conduct a fair probe into the incident and bring to book all those behind the incident,” he said.
Another farmer leader Yuddhaveer Singh, who was also present at the press conference, said given that the attackers carried a poster of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and shouted “Modi Modi”, it was up to the ruling dispensation to conduct a fair probe.” State farmer leader Chukki Nanjundaswamy has announced a black flag protest across the state on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Tikait denied all allegations made against him by Chandrashekhar. “The allegations are baseless and without any evidence. Farmer’s movement is a historic movement that forced the Union Government to roll back the three farm laws. Yes, we were negotiating with the government, but not to broker end to protest,” he said.
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