Aam Aadmi Party leader Raghav Chadha on Monday slammed Haryana Chief Minister ML Khattar, equating him with British General Dyer, for allowing to fire upon farmers and using tear gas against them.
His statement came as videos of police using tear gas shells against farmer group marching to Delhi went viral on Sunday.
"Haryana Chief Minister ML Khattar sahab like General Dyer is allowing to fire upon farmers and using tear gas against them. Are the country's farmers our enemies? Are they Army personnel of China or Pakistan? It's shameful," Chadha said.
Reginald Dyer, the infamous British officer, had ordered troops to open fire into a crowd of unarmed Indian civilians who had gathered in Amritsar's Jallianwala Bagh to celebrate Baisakhi. At least 379 people were killed and over 1,000 were injured in the firing on April 13, 1919.
Haryana Police on Sunday evening fired teargas canisters to thwart a march of a group of agitating farmers towards Delhi at Masani barrage in Rewari district.
Farmers first broke police barricades put up near Bhudla Sangwari village and then started moving towards Delhi in the evening.
They have been camping at the service lane of the Delhi-Jaipur highway for the past few days, police said.
When the farmers' group reached Masani barrage where the barricades were put up, police used teargas to disperse them.
"We have stopped them (farmers) at Masani," Rewari Superintendent of Police Abhishek Jorwal said over the phone.
On December 31, a group of farmers had broken police barricades at the Shahjahanpur border with Rajasthan, trying to move towards the national capital.
Police had then too resorted to teargas shelling as well as using water cannons to stop them.
A large number of farmers from Rajasthan, Haryana and some other places have been protesting on the Jaipur-Delhi highway for the past several days, demanding the repeal of new farm laws.
They have been camping at the Rajasthan-Haryana border point after police had earlier stopped them from proceeding towards Delhi as part of their "Delhi Chalo" march against the new farm laws.
(With PTI inputs)
