Advertisement
Miscreants on Monday threw ink on Tikait during an event organized by a farmers’ organization at Gandhi Bhavan in the Karnataka capital following which three people were arrested.
The organizers and the miscreants then attacked each other with plastic chairs.
Tikait has held the local police responsible for the episode and alleged that attack on him was in connivance with the BJP-led state government.
Related Articles
Advertisement
Karnataka Home Minister Araga Jnanendra has dismissed the allegations that those who targeted Tikait were BJP leaders. ”We are in touch with the officers. Three people have been arrested and are being interrogated. I denounce this act. Everyone has got the right to freedom of expression under the Constitution,” he said. According to the organizers, the program, which also included a press conference, was convened to ”clear doubts” about farmer leader Kodihalli Chandrashekar following a sting operation against him, and Tikait was invited for it.
In the meeting, the miscreants appeared in the crowd posing as journalists and pretended to take notes. One of them went on the stage apparently to adjust the microphone in front of Tikait and then tried to attack him with the mic.
Another person threw ink on Tikait that stained his turban, face, white kurta, and the green shawl is worn around his neck.
Opposition parties, including the Congress, the Aam Aadmi Party, and the Rashtriya Lok Dal, condemned the incident and sought immediate police action against the culprits. Tikait, a vocal critic of the BJP, was one of the prominent faces of the 2020 farmers’ protest against the now-repealed three central agri-marketing laws.
Tikait’s BKU was part of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), which had led the over-a-year-long protest against the Centre at Delhi’s borders.