Political parties, not farmers, behind Lakhimpur violence: BKS

Seeking the harshest punishment for those involved in the violence in Lakhimpur Kheri in Uttar Pradesh, the RSS-affiliated farmer union BKS on Monday said people from various political parties, and not farmers, were behind it.

Describing the incident as "unfortunate", the Bharatiya Kisan Sangh (BKS) in a statement said, "The people involved in the incident were not farmers, they belonged to various political parties. The incident was carried out using leftist methods. People were mercilessly beaten to death with sticks, something farmers cannot do."

The BKS claimed that the way the people took the law into their own hands and committed murders in public shows that they were part of some professional gangs.

Seeking the harshest punishment for those involved in such acts, it said that justice should be done to the families of the deceased by conducting an impartial inquiry into this heinous incident at the earliest.

Eight people were killed -- four farmers allegedly run over and four people in a convoy of BJP workers who were lynched -- on Sunday as violence erupted during a farmers' protest in Lakhimpur Kheri district in Uttar Pradesh.