Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Wednesday, June 14, visited Mandsaur for the first time since five farmers taking part in protests were gunned down by the police on June 6. He extended them an olive branch, even as political rivals of the BJP eyed more opportunity to paint Chouhan and the saffron party in poor light.
The district authorities on Wednesday lifted Section 144 — which had been imposed in the area for the past few days — from Mandsaur in anticipation of Chouhan's visit. He first made his way to the Badwan village, where he met the kin of some of those killed on June 6.
The move came as the latest instalment of his olive branch to protesting farmers, the first of which was the announcement of Rs 1 crore solatium to those killed on June 6. He had subsequently sat on a fast at Dussehra Maidan in state capital Bhopal, in an apparent call for peace.
On Wednesday, after meeting the kin of farmers in Badwan, he announced that Rs 1 crore had been given via the real-time gross settlement (RTGS) to the kin of Ghanshyam Dhaakad, one of the five farmers killed last week. He also said that the state government would bear the educational expenses of Dhaakad's children.
