Country occupied by ‘state-run Taliban’: Rakesh Tikait after SDM’s ’crack heads’ remark

The country has been occupied by state-run Taliban, said Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rakesh Tikait on Sunday, attacking the Haryana government for the lathi charge by police on farmers. 

“Yesterday, an officer ordered (policemen) to hit farmers on their heads. They call us Khalistani. If you would call us Khalistani & Pakistani, we would say 'Sarkari Talibani' has occupied the country. They are 'Sarkari Talibanis',” said Tikait. 

"There is the commander who gave the order to break the head. Through the police force, they want to take over the entire country," he added, commenting on the injured farmers at the Karnal's protest.

Earlier on Sunday, Tikait slammed Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar via Twitter and compared him with General Dyer. "Khattar's behaviour is like that of General Dyer," he said. 

Tikait further said that the atrocities committed by the Haryana Police on the farmers cannot be tolerated and Farmer will account for all.

Retaliating on the lathi-charge on the farmers, Tikait said the farmer will account for all.

Tikait had earlier issued a call to farmers to block all highways and toll plazas across Haryana till 5 pm on Saturday in a protest against Karnal's lathi charge. 

Action against Karnal SDM

Condemning Karnal sub-divisional magistrate Ayush Sinha's instructions to policemen to "crack" the heads of protesting farmers in a viral video, Haryana Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala on Sunday assured that action will be taken against the IAS officer.

"The use of such kind of words by an IAS officer for farmers is condemnable. Definitely, action will be taken against him. In a clarification, he (Karnal SDM Ayush Sinha) said he didn't sleep in the last two days. He probably doesn't know that farmers also don't sleep on 200 days a year," said Chautala. 

Haryana Police lathi-charged on protesting farmers near the Bastar toll plaza on Saturday, where they gathered in large numbers to protest against a programme that Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar was scheduled to attend.

Following the incident, a clipping of a video went viral on social media, which was also tweeted by BJP MP from Pilibhit Varun Gandhi, in which Karnal SDM Ayush Sinha could be purportedly seen instructing policemen to "crack their (protesting farmers') heads" to prevent them from moving forward and not to let anyone breach the security cordon.

With inputs from agencies.