Bhopal: Hours after half a dozen farmers died allegedly in police firing at Mandsaur’s Piplaya in Madhya Pradesh, state Home Minister Bhupendra Singh said that farmers did not die in police firing.
Talking to media, Singh claimed that police did not open fire at farmers. "The anti-social elements from the crowd opened fire and the matter would be probed into, the minister said, adding that policemen had been showing maximum restraint during the last few days of protest.
He also accused Congress of supporting these anti-social elements, who according to him, were fueling violence.
Meanwhile, Congress has formed an eight-member delegation to visit the trouble-torn Mandsaur on Wednesday. Senior Congress leaders, too, came down heavily on the ruling BJP after the Tuesday incident.
Chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan convened an emergency meeting after the violence was reported. Ordering a judicial probe into the incident, Chouhan termed the violence a conspiracy plotted by the opposition Congress.
“Anti-social elements have intruded into the farmers’ agitation and they wish to unleash violence,” he alleged.
Through his tweets, Chouhan urged the farmers not to lose cool, saying that the state government has acceded to farmers’ justified demands. “I am ready for a dialogue but ill-intensions of those triggering violence won’t be fulfilled,” Chouhan said.
Meanwhile, the curfew was clamped in Mandsaur. Farmers are persisting with their agitation, especially in Malwa region over various demands, including loan waiver, better prices and farm package. Violence had erupted in Ratlam last Sunday during farmers’ protest and 150 demonstrators, including DP Dhakad, were booked by police on charges of attempt to murder and setting ablaze police vehicles.
A police constable had sustained serious injury in the eye during the protest. The agitation made headlines as farmers threw milk, fruits and vegetables on the roads in support of their demands for the last five days.
In continuance with the protest, the farmers had gathered at Piplaya in Mandsaur on Tuesday and allegedly surrounded a police station, torching several police vehicles. In retaliation, CRPF jawans allegedly opened fire at protesters, killing three farmers on the spot and three others, grievously injured, died on their way to a hospital in Indore.
Farmers went on a rampage following the death of their friends, setting ablaze vehicles and shops until the police and para-military forces reached the spot.
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