The Narendra Modi government is "trying to save the accused" in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi alleged on Monday and demanded the sacking of Union Minister Ajay Mishra after an SIT filed a charge sheet in the case.
The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the Lakhimpur Kheri violence, that claimed eight lives, on Monday filed a charge sheet against 14 accused, including Ashish Mishra, the son of the Union minister of state for home.
Of those named in the charge sheet, Ashish Mishra and 12 others have been arrested in the case.
"The entire country has seen the truth of the 5,000-page charge sheet in the form of a video. Yet the Modi government is trying to save the accused. India is a witness! #Lakhimpur #Farmers" he said in a tweet in Hindi, using the hashtag seeking dismissal of MoS Ajay Mishra.
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Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said "false apologies" and withdrawal of farm laws would not help "cover-up Modi's anti-farmer mindset".
"They are in the position of protector but stand with the destroyer. In the charge sheet of the Lakhimpur Kheri massacre case, the son of the Union Minister of State for Home is the main accused in the crushing of farmers," she said in a tweet in Hindi.
"But due to Narendra Modi ji's patronage, Minister Ajay Mishra Teni did not even come under the scrutiny of the investigation and he remains in his post," Priyanka Gandhi Vadra alleged and demanded the sacking of Ajay Mishra Teni.
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Four farmers were allegedly mowed down by an SUV in the Lakhimpur Kheri district, the native place of MoS Home Ajay Mishra on October 3 last year. In the ensuing violence, four people, including a journalist and two BJP workers, were also killed.
