Bharatiya Kisan Union leader Rakesh Tikait has justified the mob lynching of BJP workers and a driver in the Lakhimpur Kheri case citing it was a reaction to an action. While addressing a press conference on Saturday, Tikait said that they were killed by the farmer protestors as a reaction to the death of farmers by a vehicle carrying the BJP workers, and therefore it was a justified act.
He said that people who killed the BJP workers and the driver were not guilty as it was not a pre-planned murder.
Tikait said, ‘Who were those in the vehicle that killed people? It was a reaction to an action, there was no plan. Here those who hit people with their vehicle are guilty. This was a reaction, this was not murder, I do not find them guilty.’
Earlier, Congress leader Kamru Choudhary had also justified the brutal mob lynching of Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) workers in a Times Now debate, branding them as ‘murderers’ who deserved it. Choudhary then called the BJP workers criminals and when the anchor asked him about the basis of his claims, he said, “You want me to call the murderers as gardeners who had come to plant lotus flowers?”
Choudhary was open about his support towards ‘lynching’ and ‘mob justice’ in the News Hour debate.
Also, a Congress leader from Karnataka, Amaregouda Patil Bayyapur said, ‘let BJP workers die and the Congress party will give them a compensation of Rs 1 crore.’
Last Sunday eight people were killed including four farmers during the farmers’ protest at Tikunia in Lakhimpur Kheri district of Uttar Pradesh. While four people were killed by a speeding vehicle, four were killed in retaliatory violence, including two BJP workers, a driver and a journalist. The UP government has announced a judicial inquiry under a retired High Court judge. It was also announced by the government that a compensation of Rs 45 lakh would be given to the family of deceased farmers and a job to a member of the family.
