October 8, 2021
It’s 34 mins past midnight, but I won’t be able to sleep unless I write this down. For the last three days I have been traumatized by the unfolding story in Lakhimpur Kheri. Many Indians have been. Many are asking questions they might never receive answers to as this is the UP model in action.
I will tell you what I know about this story.
A week ago Union Minister of State for Home Affairs, Ajay Mishra, made a provocative speech about the farmers who are protesting near Lakhimpur Kheri. He said they should ‘improve’ otherwise he would ‘improve ‘them in two minutes. Don’t forget who he was before he was Union Minister (apparently he was a man charged for murder and other violence), he said. They would have to leave the region.
A little before this, the CM of Haryana had addressed a crowd and told them to gather 500 to 700 of themselves, take sticks and beat the farmers. Don't worry about jail, he said. Before that a bureaucrat had been filmed saying break open the farmers heads.
On Sunday, October 3, farmers gathered to peacefully protest the presence of another minister at an event there, but the didn’t show up, and the farmers were told to leave by UP police. A jeep—belonging to the Minister mentioned above, followed by two cars—allegedly accidentally ran down a bunch of farmers. The enraged farmers pulled out and beat up three of those inside.
Media, Modi Media, started reporting a story. They said the farmers were pelting stones and attacking the cars with sticks and swords. They said the driver lost control and hit a few and the farmers beat up those inside to death. A video was shown of a crowd, chaos, cars and people being beaten to death by sticks.
We were shocked. I was shocked. So far the farmers, through extreme provocation, had remained peaceful. What had happened.
The next day a very suspicious top cop of UP. The same man who had tried to suppress the investigation of the Hathras rape case, last year. The same one who had ordered the body of the rape victim to be cremated in the middle of the night without giving the family time to perform last rights, had brokered a monetary settlement with the Farmer Union. The state would pay compensation to every dead farmer in return for peaceful cremation of the bodies. The victims families were supposedly happy now that they had received money. Would you, can you be happy if somebody had just died violently in your family? Nobody asked why the state was settling a private matter between the occupants of the Ministers car and the dead farmers families. Why was the state of UP forking out money for this? Recently it had paid off the wife of a man who had been killed by policemen in a hotel room. They had promised the wife that she would get justice but the policemen were still free.
Several farmers had seen the Ministers son, Ashish, running away from the scene, helped by policemen. They insisted on his arrest. He and his father claim he wasn’t there. The father said. The farmer said. So he roams free. Though the Minister father has confirmed that it was his car at the scene.
Opposition leaders who tried to visit the area and see if the victims needed assistance were illegally detained without warrants for long time periods. They were manhandled like they had been last year during the Hathras case. They were also called political tourists, publicity vultures by the Modi media. Meanwhile internet was shut down in Lakhimpur Kheri so those there couldn't communicate with the outside. When they did manage to reach the victims families, the families were grateful that somebody who would voice their needs listened to them.
Then another video emerged that showed clearly. Very clearly. Farmers walking away from the scene. A jeep and two cars coming from behind at great speed and running over farmers whose backs were to them. One an old man, 60 years old, who died on his way to the hospital. Three others also died, the youngest 19, and several were injured. No stone pelting was seen, and nobody had swords.
Enraged farmers did pull out people and beat them. They used the black protest flags they were carrying. I repeat no swords were visible. It was the fury of a mob whose belief in justice is gone. The UP model is known to protect people in power. Also, people did emerge from the cars and run away from the scene.
The suspicious top cop, who rouses my basest instincts, when questioned about why no investigation was under way, why nobody had been questioned, said don’t ask such questions, everything is happening as it should. The Minister, whose son is accused, is overseeing the investigation. As Union Minister of State the cops report to him. It will all be fair and right, the top cop said. Some people see the glass half full and some half empty. His words not mine.
The Minister met the Union Home Minister, a scary man, the second most powerful man in the country, a man with no scruples and I think very little or no humanity. The minister father was told not to resign and the son didn’t need to be questioned. They had already said they were not there.
So, the Supreme Court was moved and today the Court asked the UP cops what had been done. The cops then arrested two men who had been in the car, and taped a summons at the home of the wanted son. They said they could not find him. Just hours before he was giving interviews to Modi media.
BJP leaders still say the farmers, who are not farmers, but terrorists, pelted the car and caused it to lose control. They have their story down pat and every one of them says the same thing. Their supporters tweet the same, their trolls echo this on comments in articles. The amount of energy that goes into disseminating falsehood doesn't go into spreading the truth, does it?
If you have read this far, tell me if you think the cops will conduct a fair investigation under the watchful eye of the Minister who threatened the farmers, whose son wasn’t at the place where he was seen by some of the victims, who’s protected by the Union Home Minister.
At this hour I don’t even know if I make sense but the words rumbling and roaring in my insides needed to be let out. The feelings are cauterized, numb. Tomorrow they will roar and rumble.
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