SKM team visits Lakhimpur Kheri, former member accuses Yogendra Yadav of changing sides

New Delhi/Lakhimpur Kheri, May 5 As members of the Samyukt Kisan Morch (SKM) went to meet Lakhimpur Kheri victims and some farmers on Thursday, a drama unfolded on Twitter when a former member accused Yogendra Yadav of changing sides.

Gurmeet Singh Charuni, one of the former SKM leaders, had tweeted that Yadav needs to clarify on which side he is. Charuni alleged that Yadav had met the "killer minister as he sympathised with his son and had said that voices of Minister's family members are still fresh in his mind, they had posed several questions and claimed to be farmers themselves".

However, by late evening, he had deleted the tweet.

Yadav's Jai Kisan Andolan is part of the consortium of the farmers' bodies, the SKM.

Deepak Lamba, national Vice President of Jai Kisan Andolan, replied to Charuni's tweet with a graphic and a caption. "Propoganda" read the caption below which was a screen short of Charuni's tweet and next to it was "Truth" with a photo of Yadav with families of martyr farmers. Below it in Hindi was an explainer how it was on Yadav's insistence that advocate Prashant Bhushan ensured that the Minister's son did not get a bail.

Yadav did not tweet or say anything.

On October 4, 2021 when scores of farmers were protesting - as part of the then anti-farm laws agitation - when a car belonging to Ashish Mishra Teni, son of Union Minister of State for Home, Ajay Mishra mowed down about half a dozen people.

A large delegation of the SKM visited Lakhimpur Kheri, and met the families of the victims of the ghastly massacre from October 2021 and also of the farmers who were "unjustly arrested on murder charges."

"The SKM visit took place in the background of the recent re-arrest of Ashish Mishra Teni after the Supreme Court cancelled his bail. Right from the beginning, the SKM has been in regular touch with the affected families and has given them all help, including legal aid in the Supreme Court," the SKM said in a statement.

The SKM delegation met the District Magistrate, the District Superintendent of Police and other officials, and raised the demands such as removal from the Union Cabinet and arrest on charge of conspiracy of Ajay Mishra Teni, withdrawal of murder charges and all cases on farmers, compensation to all those injured in the Lakhimpur Kheri massacre and full security to the witnesses in the case, and giving them licenses to carry firearms for their protection among others.

The SKM delegation was led by Rakesh Tikait, Joginder Singh Ugrahan, Yudhvir Singh, Jagjit Singh Dallewal, Ashok Dhawale, Surjit Phul and Harinder Singh Lakhowal among others and was accompanied by several local leaders of the SKM in Lakhimpur Kheri, Shahjahanpur and elsewhere.