Police arrested Congress leader and MP from Guna Jyotiraditya Scindia and Jhabua-Ratlam MP Kantilal Bhuria on Tuesday afternoon for defying prohibitory orders in Ratlam on a day when two more debt-ridden farmers died in Madhya Pradesh.
A day before holding a Satyagraha in Bhopal in support of farmers, Scindia led a rally from Indore towards Mandsaur and held public meetings on the way.
He was stopped near a toll collection booth in Jaora area, where massive deployment of police and rapid action force was made to prevent the crowd from entering Mandsaur, where prohibitory orders under section 144 remained in place after the curfew was lifted.
“The police firing on farmers agitating for getting the right price for their produce and waiver of loans, which resulted in the death of the five of them is a blot on the head of Shivraj Singh’s government. It appears that Hitler’s rule is prevailing in the State. Chouhan has no right to remain in power,” Mr. Scindia told reporters at the Indore Press Club.
“It is a matter of shame that instead of meeting the grieving farmers’ families, the Chief Minister staged a nautanki [drama] in Bhopal in the name fast. By announcing hefty compensation for them, the Chouhan government tried to trivialise invaluable human lives through money,” he alleged.
Mr. Scindia, who met injured farmers at the government M.Y. Hospital in Indore, said, “I am totally shattered with their ordeal. They alleged that after the firing, police dragged them on the roads and also took away money and mobile phones from their pockets.”
In the wake of protests, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had observed an indefinite fast in an attempt to calm down the rising tempers. However, he ended his fast on Sunday claiming that peace has returned to the state.
Even, Patidar quota stir leader Hardik Patel was also arrested in Neemuch district when he was on his way to Mandsaur to express his solidarity with the agitating farmers.
Patel was accompanied by Akhil Bharatiya Kisan Sabha General Secretary Hannan Mollah. “The farmers gave their lives for their rights. It will not go waste. Hardik will meet farmers and will ask them to continue their protest,” Patidar Navnirman Sena General Secretary Akhilesh Katiyar had said on Monday.
Lashing out on authorities after his arrest, Hardik Patel said, “I am not a terrorist. I have not come from Lahore. I am an Indian citizen and have the right to go anywhere in the country.”
He also criticised the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre and said that 50 crore farmers have come together against the saffron party.
Hardik Patel was later released on bail and transported out of Madhya Pradesh in a police vehicle, SP Abhishek Diwan said.
Swaraj India President Yogendra Yadav said since the last week, the government did not allow any political leader or activist to visit Mandsaur and meet the kin of the farmers.
“One week has passed since the killing of the five protesting farmers in Mandsaur in police firing. By stopping the leaders, who wanted to meet the kin, the government is trying to hide something and that must be revealed,” Yadav said after returning from Neemuch in Madhya Pradesh.
