Chaukhra farm, Palia, Lakhimpur Kheri
A total of 59 Assembly constituencies from nine districts of Uttar Pradesh (UP) will go to the polls in the fourth phase on Wednesday, February 23. One of these constituencies is Palia in the district of Lakhimpur Kheri. Palia Kalan is the village where Lovepreet’s home is located — 19-year-old Lovepreet Singh lost his life in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence. Chaukhra farm lies 3-4 kilometres inside from Nighasan Road some distance before you enter the Palia town. This is where Lovepreet’s house is — one that has not been completed yet. It looks exactly the same as that of any other small farmer who owns 2-2.5 acres of land. A lot has changed here now. Lovepreet’s father Satnam Singh, mother Satvinder Kaur and two younger sisters Amandeep and Gagandeep are yet to come out of the sorrow of having lost their son and brother.
Farmers are bitterly upset about the High Court granting bail to Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Mishra Teni’s son Ashish Mishra, the prime accused in the case of farmers mowed down by a car, even as the four farmers arrested in the violence that took place on the site after this incident continue to languish in jail. The bail has been challenged in the Supreme Court.
The Lakhimpur Kheri violence on October 3, 2021, had shaken the farmers’ movement. It was the scariest scene of violence against the farmers in this movement that lasted for more than 13 months. People across the world saw on their screens a Thar driving away after having mown down farmers. Four farmers were killed in the incident.
Satnam Singh, the father of Lovepreet
Lovepreet was the youngest of those killed in the shocking incident near the Tikonia crossroads in Lakhimpur. His father Satnam Singh is a very small farmer. Of the 10 acres of land the family has, his own share comes to a mere 2.5-3 acres. This may well give you an idea of his economic condition. 47-year-old Satnam looks much older than his age.
When this writer reaches his home, there are not too many people around. Only his family is there besides a few policemen who have been deputed for the security of the family. This is not a village in its proper sense. People here have built houses in their fields and his house is much smaller than those in its vicinity.
Tears come to the eyes of mother Satvinder Kaur as soon as Lovepreet’s name is mentioned. She cannot get over the sorrow of her only son’s death. The condition of the two sisters, too, is similar. They are graduating from a college in Nighasan and speak little. Says Satnam, “Lovepreet wished to go to Australia for higher education and was preparing for it.” But now the dream of Lovepreet and his family remains unfulfilled. He also excelled at online gaming and the Internet. He had even started earning for himself and his family.
On being asked about the government announcements, Satnam Singh says, “We have received the compensation.” The UP government has given a compensation of Rs 45 lakh. The Congress governments of Punjab and Chhattisgarh have given compensations of Rs 50 lakh each. In the agreement between the farmers and the UP government, it had also been decided that besides compensation, a government job would be provided to one of the family members. However, the job has not been provided yet. Satnam Singh says, “SDM Ambarish Kumar had come recently. He proposed a job at the Sampurnanagar-based government sugar mill. But we said that most of those working in the sugar mills were men. And besides, how can we send our daughters far from home?”
Romi Sahni is the sitting BJP MLA from Palia and the party has fielded him once again for the polls that will be held tomorrow. His image among the people around is that of an aggressive leader. He is a local Sindhi businessman. Pritendra Pal Singh aka Kukkoo Bhai from the Samajwadi Party (SP) is contesting the election against him. The majority of the farmers here are Sikh families but they do not have a large share in the total population. So, they cannot mould the poll results on their own.
Baljeet Singh Balli from the Makanpur farm in Palia says, “There are more than 18,000 Sikh voters and about 40,000 Muslim voters in this constituency. The remaining votes lie with the other castes.” When the SUV mowed down the farmers on October 3, Baljeet was present at the venue and says he had a narrow escape. He is also close to Lovepreet’s family. Says he, “The government has not made good its promise of giving licence for people’s security.”
There are eight Assembly constituencies in the Lakhimpur district, all of which had gone to the BJP in the 2017 elections. But the farmers’ movement is a major issue here this time. The place had for some time become the pivot of the farmers’ movement after the Lakhimpur violence. It is, therefore, going to be difficult for the BJP.
Ashwini Gupta, who runs a restaurant named Aapki Baithak in Nighasan, too believes that the road is not easy for the BJP this time around. Dilbagh Singh, the Lakhimpur Kheri president of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU), also says that the BJP will have to suffer a great loss here. Farmers are bitterly upset about the High Court granting bail to Ashish Mishra, the prime accused in the case of farmers mowed down by a car, even as the four farmers arrested in the violence after this incident continue to languish in jail. The farmers are unable to come to terms with this ironic situation.