Five farmers were killed after firing at a protest in western Madhya Pradesh of India, marking an escalation of violence as a rural strike demanding debt relief spread, reports NDTV.
Indian Home minister Bhupendra Singh told NDTV that the police did not shoot at the crowd in the central city of Mandsaur, 325 km from the capital of Bhopal.
"There was no firing by the police, an investigation has been launched," he said, adding that bullets were shot by "anti-social elements."
But he was contradicted by a senior official, Ujjain Division Commissioner OM Jha, who told news agency IANS, "Around 2 pm Tuesday (June 6), in order to control the agitated farmers, the police had to open fire in which two farmers died and several others were injured."
"The police started firing to disperse the crowd. Farmers were not carrying weapons," said Gajendra Tokas of the Rashtriya Kisan Mazdoor Sangh, a national farmers' union.
"This government is at war with farmers," tweeted Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. He will visit Mandsaur to meet the families of the farmers who had died, reported ANI.
Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who has led the government since 2005, blamed the opposition for inciting the violence and said his administration stands with farmers.
"The Congress party has conspired to make this a violent agitation. Congress leaders have been trying to do this... The Mandsaur incident is sad and unfortunate," he said.
"Unfortunately, anti-social elements have crept into the agitation," he claimed.
The Chief Minister raised the compensation for family of those killed from 10 lakhs to 1 crore and also government jobs; 5 lakhs to injured.
Internet services have been suspended in areas like Indore, Ujjain and Dewas, all in the western part of the state which has witnessed anger by farmers who say the government is not providing enough relief from rural distress.
For days, farmers have been holding large protests, demanding higher prices for their products including onions and dal. They also want loans to be waived, like in the states of Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, which are also governed by the BJP. In many parts of Madhya Pradesh, the demonstrations, part of a 10-day strike that began on June 1, have erupted in violence, with police men being assaulted with stones, vehicles being set on fire, and shops being vandalised and looted.
The western part of Madhya Pradesh adjoins Maharashtra, where farmers have been holding similar demonstrations. They want Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis' government to take steps to boost farm incomes and output including waiving all agricultural loans, similar to the $5.6 billion in debt forgiveness announced in April by Yogi Adityanath after he took over as Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh.
The outbursts of rural discontent in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh pose a challenge to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has promised to double farm incomes over the next five year.
BDST: 0905 HRS, JUN07, 2017
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