The fissures of the Mandsaur tragedy that took the entire country by storm run deeper than we see. A single incident that shook the entire farming community to their core was not an unforeseen tragedy, but a tragic conspiracy. A conspiracy hatched to whet farmers against the system, but it ended up killing five innocents that were not even farmers. Yes, that’s true! While the entire nation is going gaga over the alleged killing of farmers during Madhya Pradesh protests, what the world doesn’t know is the deceased weren’t farmers.
Here’s the shocking truth behind MP Farmer protests.
This Tuesday, the five innocents that were killed during in a police firing at Pipliya Mandi, Mandsaur were not farmers but young students and workers who worked on daily wages. One of them was a 19-year old student of biology. Abhishek, as they know him was the youngest of four siblings, studying in Class XI. He was a resident from Barkheda Panth village near Mandsaur-Neemuch highway.
Others who lost their lives in Mandsaur protests were Poonam Chand (22 years), Chainram (23 years), Kanhaiya Lal (44 years) and Satya Narayan (30 years). While Chainram was a newly-married army aspirant, Poonam Chand and Kanahiyalal were workers on family farm lands. Satyanarayan was a daily-wage labor who earned bread and butter for his family with his hard work.
Sadly, it took nearly three days for Rajasthan police and the media to unveil the true identities of the deceased. Meanwhile, the ‘Kisan Sangharsh Samiti’ took this opportunity to launch protests against the government in other states, unaware of the truth. When the district collector reached Abhishek’s village, he was welcomed by an angry mob of villagers that bet them up. The aggravated family placed Abhishek’s body on the highway to block the road.
The family claims that their son was just raising slogans during the protest. He was not indulged in violent acts. Unfortunately, it’s too late now. The death of these five innocents reeks of a tragic conspiracy. The tragedy raises a few important questions—
- What were students and daily wage labors doing at the protest organized for farmers? Where they paid for participating in protests?
- Why did the police raise arms against the mobs? Were situations that hostile?
- Was Kisan Sangharsh Samiti so hostile against the government that they staged a protest with innocents, without caring for their wellbeing?
- Who’ll take the responsibility of the untimely deaths of these people—the police, the government or the farmer community? How can they compensate for this loss?
We don’t know who’s right and who’s wrong. All we know is that these lives went in vein, with no solution reached!
Situations like these make us wonder that why the government has turned a blind eye towards the welfare of its citizens? Despite India being an agriculturally dominant country, why do farmers have to fight for the rights. Also, rather than chalking out a peaceful way through talks and discussions, why do we resort to mad protests and violence all the time? Unless we find answers to these questions and fulfill our responsibilities, the country will keep losing countless innocent lives in wild protests.
Image Source: The Indian Express
