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Sisauli, Uttar Pradesh: Hundreds of farmers clashed with the police here yesterday after the authorities launched a house-to-house hunt for farmer leader Mahendra Singh Tikait for allegedly abusing Chief Minister Mayawati.
The police fired tear gas at activists of Tikait's Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) who hurled stones from rooftops to stop the search for their popular leader, injuring at least eight people.
Eventually, the police backed off although they said they were determined to arrest Tikait, against whom the government slapped a case under the Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe Act, which forbids derogatory epithets based on caste.
Three battalions of the Uttar Pradesh Police and the Provincial Armed Constabulary surrounded Sisuali village in Muzaffarnagar as they began to search for Tikait, who commands a vast following in the farming community.
His enraged supporters fought pitched battles with the security personnel almost the whole day.
The BKU leader's son Surendra and nine others were detained, Inspector General of Meerut Range V.K. Gupta said.
A villager said: "The entire village came out in support of Tikait when the police arrived in the morning."
By yesterday evening, a defiant Tikait returned to the village to attend a meeting of the village elders.
In view of the prevailing situation, the police decided not to arrest Tikait for now, police officer Gupta said
"If we had arrested Tikait now, there would be a major law and order situation and many innocent people would have been affected," Gupta said. "But he will be arrested soon."
The trouble originated from Tikait's speech at a farmer rally on Sunday to demand more benefits for sugarcane growers.
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