New Delhi: Union minister Ajay Mishra Teni – whose son is accused of fatally ramming his car into protesting farmers in Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur Kheri in October 2021 – spoke of “barking dogs chasing [his] car” in an oblique reference to farmers who successfully carried out 11-month long protest for the repeal of three contentious farm laws, NDTV has reported.
The controversial speech of Teni was made during a gathering of his supporters in his constituency and was live-streamed on social media.
Farmer leader @RakeshTikaitBKU is a ‘second rate person’ ; ‘Dogs bark on the side of the road, have nothing to say about them’ – the words of Union minister @ajaymishrteni at a speech in his constituency Lakhimpur Kheri live streamed by his supporters yesterday. pic.twitter.com/96rZTqxqPH
— Alok Pandey (@alok_pandey) August 23, 2022
“Suppose I am travelling to Lucknow in a car and it’s going at a good speed. Dogs bark. They bark on the roadside or chase the car. It’s their nature. I will not say anything about that. We do not have this nature. Things will reveal themselves and I will respond to everyone. I am very confident because of your support,” the minister is heard saying in the video. Teni has never responded to media questions about his son, Ashish Mishra.
Continuing further, he said, “The media, the so-called farmers, the non-nationalistic political parties or terrorists sitting in Canada or Pakistan, I would never have imagined you would make me popular with them too. This is your strength. Because of you, these people cannot figure out how to defeat me. The elephant keeps moving on its path, dogs keep barking.”
Training his guns on farmer unions’ leader Rakesh Tikait, Teni said, “No one in the world will be able to disappoint you. No matter how many Rakesh Tikaits come – I know him very well, ‘do kaudi ka aadmi hai‘, he fought two elections and lost his deposit (lost badly). If such a person protests, I do not respond. If his politics survives because of this, let it. I have never done anything wrong in my life.”
The controversial remarks of Teni, a minister of state in the Union home ministry, come after Tikait held a 72-hour protest in Lakhimpur Kheri demanding the Modi government sack the former. Despite a concerted campaign against Teni from the opposition, demanding his scalp, he continues to hold onto his place in the Union cabinet. His son, Ashish Mishra, who was arrested in the aftermath of the Lakhimpur Kheri violence managed to secure bail for campaigning alongside his father during the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections early this year. It was only after the case reached the Supreme Court that Ashish’s bail had been cancelled.
Responding to Teni’s remarks against him and farmers who took part in protests, Rakesh Tikait told NTDV, “I am a small man, he is a big person, I took 50,000 people to Lakhimpur for a protest so he would get angry. There is goondaraj (lawlessness) in Lakhimpur and people fear him. We will run a campaign to free Lakhimpur.”
“He should not say these things, he tries to influence witnesses by these statements,” the farmers’ leader added.
In the violence that broke out on October 3, 2021, Mishra’s car is alleged to have run over four farmers and a journalist during a protest against farm laws at Lakhimpur Kheri. Three more people were killed in the violence that ensued. Mishra is said to be part of his father’s convoy when the incident took place.