Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rakesh Tikait on Monday said he will continue to forth his views until Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Misra is arrested in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence case.
"Until Teni (MoS MHA Ajay Mishra Teni) is arrested & he resigns, we'll continue putting forth our views. He is an accused u/s 120(B) of IPC, he can't roam out in the open," Tikait said.
"He will influence the investigation because the case is against him, so he will try to save himself. Govt of India should take his resignation. If he is proven innocent then they can make him a Minister again," he added.
Tikait said Monday's 'Rail Roko' agitation over Lakhimpur Kheri violence was "fine". "We will make a program for our further strategy," he added.
Meanwhile, barring stray protests at railway tracks at some places, the Samyukt Kisan Morcha's six-hour 'Rail Roko' stir failed to create any significant impact in Uttar Pradesh, reported news agency PTI.
The farmers protested briefly at some places of the state. There was heavy police deployment in and around railway stations, but trains stopped briefly at few stations, railway officials said.
Trains were halted at Meerut and Greater Noida's Dankaur stations by the protesters, BKU media in-charge Dharmendra Malik said. In Ghaziabad's Modinagar, they agitated in front of a goods train which had already reached its destination.
In Uttar Pradesh's Muzaffarnagar, BKU workers halted the Amritsar-Delhi and the Jalandhar Express trains by staging a dharna on rail tracks.
The BKU workers also staged a token demonstration at the Raya Station in Mathura, officials said, adding that they later vacated the railway tracks.
Besides, peace prevailed in Lakhimpur Kheri, the site of the October 3 violence. The railways had suspended train movement in the region, with the SKM also withdrawing its agitation there.
Amandeep Singh Sandhu, BKU district president, told PTI that in "view of the prevailing situation in Kheri, the SKM had cancelled the 'rail roko' agitation in the district".
"Also, the untimely rains and heavy winds had hit the paddy crops in the district and farmers are busy managing the crop. the railways has also suspended the movement of trains in Kheri, hence, it (agitation) was of no use there," he said.
