Union minister Sanjeev Balyan’s policy of gate-crashing farmers’ family events to thumb his nose at a Bharatiya Kisan Union call to boycott BJP members triggered a clash that left four villagers hospitalised on Monday and spawned the gherao of a police station.
Residents of Soram village in Muzaffarnagar district, western Uttar Pradesh, said Balyan’s “goons” and policemen had used sticks to thrash villagers protesting his visit in the afternoon.
After the Muzaffarnagar MP and 2013 riots accused left, policemen entered homes, dragged men and women out and threatened them, they alleged.
The villagers held a panchayat and surrounded Shahpur police station, 4km away, demanding action against the minister of state for animal husbandry, fisheries and dairy development. The three-hour gherao ended around 9.30pm after the police promised action on the basis of their complaint.