The confrontation between farmers and their self-proclaimed friend Om Prakash Chautala came to a head today when a peasant was killed and three injured after police opened fire at Nagooran village under Kandela khap in Jind district. Farmers had assembled there to demand the release of their arrested colleagues.It was for the second time that Kandela khap became a battleground between farmers and the INLD government. Not equipped with riot control equipment, the police opened fire after agitating farmers refused to be stopped on way to a rally called at Kandela to press their demands. About 16 farmer leaders are under arrest and facing numerous cases registered by the Chautala regime, and the rallyists were demanding that they be released.Angry farmers are also holding a police party hostage at Kiloi in Rohtak for the past three days to press their demand. Today, the cops were shifted to a secret place by Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) activists, fearing a commando rescue operation by the Haryana Police. A police spokesman at Chandigarh claimed in the evening that the situation was tense but under control.In Nagooran, the farmers also set on fire the police chowki. DSP Raj Singh and 12 other policemen received injuries during the clash.Immediately after the incident, policemen left the spot and angry farmers laid siege to the place. The deceased has been identified as Ram Swarup of Shimla village in Kaithal district. But the police say he didn’t die of the firing but due to an attack by a sharp-edged weapon. Three farmers received bullet injuries in their legs.The police had sealed the area to stop the farmers from reaching the rally venue. For the past 48 hours, power supply to Kandela had been cut and no telephone lines were working. Public transport service to the village had also been suspended, and the whole area looked like it was under an undeclared curfew. But the farmers refused to be daunted and many had trudged miles through fields, braving dust and the oppressive heat, to reach Nagooran today.Farmers from all the 28 villages falling under the Kandela khap made it, vowing to continue the struggle. Kisan leaders who have been operating clandestinely as the police are hunting for them surfaced to address the rally, but neither the administration nor the police were in sight for miles.After the firing, the farmers, carrying lathis, vowed to uproot the Chautala government if it failed to respond to their demands. ‘‘We facilitated his march to the corridors of power and would now bring him down,’’ roared kisan supremo Ghasi Ram Nain, whom the state government had yesterday declared a proclaimed offender. One after the other, farmer leaders regretted they had supported the INLD in the last assembly elections.Besides the release of their colleagues, the farmers want waiving off of power arrears.Meanwhile, resentment is brewing among the police force on the inability to rescue the cops being held captive by the BKU in Rohtak. Today, the family members of the policemen met Rohtak Deputy Commissioner and SP Alok Roy. Earlier in the morning, they were allowed by the BKU to meet the held cops.News of police firing at Kandela only worsened matters here. BKU activists stoned a police party and SDM Hansi Naresh Narwal on the Hisar-Jind border in the morning, leaving a constable hurt.The BKU has also tightened security around the room where the cops are held, with youths carrying lathis, barchhas and gandasas moving about in all the surrounding lanes. Even journalists are being allowed near only after proper verification of their identity.The captive cops, it said, were being provided food, tea and snacks. Today, their uniforms were washed and ironed.
