A video of Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar going viral on social media on Sunday shows him asking people to form volunteer groups who would “pick up sticks” and employ a “tit-for-tat” tactic on farmers protesting against the Centre’s contentious farm laws.
The comments were made by Khattar while he was addressing members of the farmers’ body of the Bharatiya Janata Party at his home in Chandigarh on Sunday.
“You will have to encourage some new farmers’ bodies that are emerging,” Khattar says in the video that was widely shared by social media users. “And especially in districts of North and West Haryana…You organise 500-700-1,000 farmers, make them volunteers and then Sathe Sathyam Samacharet [a Sanskrit phrase]. What does this mean?”
Khattar further adds, “Jaise ko taisa [tit-for-tat], pick up sticks.”
When asked about legal consequences of forming the volunteer group as advised by him, the Haryana chief minister asked the people present to not worry about getting bail.
“No, we will look after that…And if you get hit by sticks, do not worry about bail,” he said. “If you stay there [in jail] for a month, two months or six months then you will become a big leader.”
The Haryana chief minister’s comment came amid a fresh spell of clashes between the Bharatiya Janata Party leaders and farmers protesting against the agriculture laws.
On Saturday, massive protests erupted outside the homes of leaders of the ruling BJP and the Jannayak Janata Party in Haryana. The farmers were protesting against Centre’s decision to postpone procurement of paddy in both the states from September 25 to October 11.
Water cannons were used by the Police to disperse the protestors.
Later, the Centre announced that paddy and millet procurement in Haryana and Punjab will start from Sunday itself.
