Chhavi Bhatia

Hisar: Several farmers were grievously injured after Haryana police baton charged them while they were protesting against CM Manohar Lal Khattar’s visit to the district Sunday. Cops also fired tear gas shells to disperse the peasants who had gathered in hundreds, to boycott the chief minister’s inauguration of a 500-bed Covid facility in a private school here. The police also arrested several farmers.

Some videos also emerged later in the day reportedly showing policemen throwing stones at unarmed farmers. Bleeding farmers including women could be seen running for cover on the Hisar-Delhi highway cover while uniformed men chased them. Angered at the brutality, farmers said the cops deliberately attacked them to provoke. “We are simple farmers. We simply wanted to show black flags to the CM. We aren’t carrying any arms but they assaulted us as if we were breaking any law. Are we criminals?” asked Randhir Singh, a farmer from Bado Patti. “We were peacefully marching towards the school. The cops fired teargas shells and beat us up without bothering that there were women and elderly also in the group,” said Satish Kumar of Ghirai village.

Earlier, the farmers had broken barricades set up by the state police to prevent them from reaching the venue of the CM’s event. Confrontational scenes were witnessed near the Ramayana Toll Plaza as cops used brute force on farmers, lathicharging women and old alike.

Kisan leaders including Bharatiya Kisan Union(Haryana) president Gurnam Singh Charuni and Rakesh Tikait rushed to the spot as soon as the news of the attack spread. Charuni lashed out at the government for unleashing brute force on defenceless farmers. “A lot of our people have been seriously wounded. The police even used plastic bullets and stones to attack them.” He further said that this was a deliberate act to instigate confrontation so as to show the kisans in a bad light.

Questioning the ‘hypocrisy’ of the government, the firebrand leader said, “The entire state has Section 144 and a lockdown in place. These people(the government) talk about social distancing but they ignored everything to hold this event. Why is it so important that the inauguration could not be done online? The event had 500 people in attendance while not more than 10 are allowed in marriages and funerals,” he said. “The government is acting as a super spreader.  The government knows that farmers are on the roads for six months now and are hurt at the moment. It plans such events to rub salt on our wounds,” said Charuni, visibly angry. He added that the farmers will continue to fight oppression “till their last breath”.