Lucknow: As protesting farmers once again ratchet up their demand for his removal, Union minister Ajay Mishra ‘Teni’ has lashed out at farmer leader Rakesh Tikait, calling him a do kaudi ka aadmi (literally, ‘a man worth two pennies’), and talked about being chased by “barking dogs”.
The Kheri MP’s comments — made in a speech to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers in Lakhimpur Monday — come days after thousands of farmers led by the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) and Tikait’s Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) held a mahapanchayat in Lakhimpur Kheri district to demand the withdrawal of cases lodged against farmers in relation to last year’s violence there, and sought Teni’s sacking from the Union cabinet.
The junior home minister’s son, Ashish Mishra, is the main accused in the violence that took place in Lakhimpur Kheri in October last year, when an SUV was rammed into a crowd of protesting farmers, leading to the deaths of four farmers and a journalist. Ashish obtained bail from the Allahabad High Court in February, but this was overturned by the Supreme Court in April.
In a video of the speech, now viral on social media, the minister is heard saying: “For instance, we are travelling to Lucknow. We are speedily heading towards Lucknow seated in a vehicle….several times, it happens that dogs keep barking on roads. They are barking down the roads and, at times, chasing vehicles. So, this is their nature. I will not say anything about that. A person behaves according to his nature, but our nature is not like that. When things come to the fore and when people gather strength to come forward, I will definitely answer every person.”
Urging the BJP workers to continue to give him strength, he said that with their support, “no power in the world” could leave him hopeless .
Mishra went on to launch a tirade against Tikait, saying, “I know Rakesh Tikait very well. Do kaudi ka aadmi (a worthless man)…we have seen that he fought elections twice and lost his deposit each time. When this kind of person opposes someone, it has no meaning…so I don’t want to respond to such people,” Teni said. Tikait contested and lost in both the 2007 UP assembly election and the 2014 Lok Sabha election.
“There is no relevance in responding to such people, but this is what keeps his politics alive… This is how his livelihood is sustained. So, let him run it…I will respond at the right time, but I will definitely say that I have never done anything wrong in my life,” he added.
Teni, however, went into into a damage control exercise Tuesday after his video drew criticism from rival political parties.
“You have to understand that a video of Tikait ji had gone viral. I told the (BJP) workers that Rakesh Tikait is not the person of that level who will be saying things like Lakhimpur people are ‘goondas’ (criminal). So, I said that I don’t consider it right to respond to it… It was being said that he called me a ‘goonda’ and an accused under Section 120B (criminal conspiracy) of IPC,” he told reporters.
“So, I told them (the BJP workers) that a lot of people don’t have information that a court case is on… So, some people are creating confusion due to a lack of information. Let them create confusion; we are moving ahead towards our goal. And there is a saying that when a person is walking, some people tend to give their reaction. Such people should not be given attention,” he told reporters. The Print
