Farmers Movement Archive

Varun Gandhi asks PM Modi to take action against minister in Lakhimpur incident

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Varun Gandhi on Sunday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to consider “appropriately strict action” against the union minister who is connected to the violence that erupted in Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur Kheri on October 3 that left eight dead and urged him to accept farmers’ demand for statutory guarantee of minimum support price (MSP) for their crops. Gandhi also requested the Prime Minister to consider paying ₹1 crore compensation each to the families of farmers who died during the year-long protest against the three farm laws. In a letter to PM Modi, Gandhi blamed “provocative” statements made by several senior party colleagues for instigating the violence in Lakhimpur Kheri. “This heartbreaking incident is a blemish on our democracy. It is my request to you that appropriately strict action is taken against the union minister who has been connected to this incident, so that there is a fair enquiry,” Gandhi wrote in the letter that he shared on Twitter. Though the BJP MP did not name anyone, but his letter refers to minister of state for home, Ajay Mishra, whose son Ashish has been named as a prime accused in the case and is currently in custody. Earlier, he had shared a purported video of the Lakhimpur Kheri incident in which a car is seen running over protesters. While four farmers were killed in the incident, a local journalist, two BJP workers and a driver of Ashish Mishra were killed in subsequent violence. Gandhi, the BJP MP from Pilibhit in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh, who had earlier urged the government to take a lenient view of the farmers’ agitation, has also sought dropping all “politically motivated false FIRs” that were filed against the farmers who were part of the anti-farm law protests for over a year. “I believe if this decision has been taken earlier, all these innocent lives would not have been lost. It is my humble request to you that while expressing condolences to the families of the farmer brothers and sisters who were martyred in the movement, a compensation of ₹1 crore each be announced for them,” he said in the letter. On Friday, PM Modi announced that the government will set in motion the process of repealing the three farm laws that saw protracted protests by some farmer groups in Punjab, Haryana and parts of UP. Gandhi has also backed the farmers’ demand of making MSP legally binding. “There are more than 85% small and marginal farmers in our country for the empowerment of these farmers we have to ensure that they get remunerative prices for their crops. This movement will not end without the resolution of this demand and there will be wide spread anger amongst them, which will continue to emerge in one form or the other,” he wrote, seeking statutory guarantee of MSP for their crops. “…Democracy runs on constitutionality, discourse and empathy. The famers expect you to solve their problems in a sensitive and timely manner,” Gandhi further wrote.

Hindustan Times

21-11-2021

India