Lucknow: Both Chhattisgarh and Punjab governments on Wednesday, October 6, announced a financial assistance of Rs 50 lakh each to families of four farmers and a journalist killed in the violence that broke out in Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur Kheri.
The chief ministers of the two Congress-ruled states, along with party leader Rahul Gandhi, have arrived in Lucknow, from where they intend to go to Lakhimpur Kheri to meet the families of the victims.
Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi said the Lakhimpur violence reminded him of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre in 1919.
He said the UP government has made a “mockery” of democracy.
“Our government will provide Rs 50 lakh each to families of farmers and the journalist killed in the Lakhimpur violence,” he told reporters in Lucknow.
Echoing the same sentiments, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel said his government will also give Rs 50 lakh to the families of the farmers and the journalist.
Four of the eight people who died in Sunday’s violence in Lakhimpur Kheri were farmers, allegedly knocked down by vehicles in a VIP convoy belonging to the son of junior Union minister Ajay Mishra.
Among the four others was Raman Kashyap, a journalist working for a private TV channel.
The UP Police has lodged a case against Ajay Mishra’s son but no arrest has been made so far.