The Congress leader asked the prime minister to shun Mishra as an act of ensuring justice to families of the deceased farmers and also demanded the minister’s dismissal
File image of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. PTI
Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Saturday wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging him not to share the stage with Union Minister Ajay Mishra ‘Teni’. Gandhi asked the prime minister to shun Mishra instead as an act of ensuring justice to families of deceased farmers and also demanded the minister’s dismissal.
Mishra’s son has been arrested in connection with the violence in Lakhimpur Kheri. The police have so far arrested 13 accused, including Union minister of state for home Ajay Mishra’s son Ashish Mishra, in connection with the case.
Modi is currently in Uttar Pradesh’s Lucknow for the DGP conference.
Mishra’s son has been arrested in connection with the violence in Lakhimpur Kheri.
“If your intentions about farmers are clear, don’t share the dais with Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Mishra. Dismiss him,” Gandhi said in her letter to Modi.
“Yesterday, while addressing the countrymen, you had said that with true mind and pious heart and keeping in mind the interests of the farmers, an unprecedented decision to repeal the farm laws was taken. If this is true, then getting justice delivered to the families affected by the Lakhimpur Kheri violence should be your top priority,” the Congress general secretary said.
“But, Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Mishra ‘Teni’ still remains a member of your council of ministers. If you share the stage in the (DGPs) conference with the father of the accused (Ashish Mishra), then a clear message will go to the aggrieved families that you are still with those persons, who are giving patronage to the murderers”.
She further said, “If today, your intention is really clear about the farmers of the country, then you should not share the stage with the Union Minister of State for Home, and remove him.”
The AICC general secretary also urged that cases registered against the farmers in the country for staging protests against the agri laws be withdrawn and financial assistance be given to the families of all those who died during the agitation.
“You are the prime minister and you must be understanding well the responsibility towards the farmers of the country. Ensuring justice towards every citizen is not only the duty but also the moral responsibility of the prime minister,” she said in the letter written in Hindi.
Referring to Ashish Mishra, the son of Union minister Ajay Mishra, the Congress leader said, “The entire country has been witness to the cruelty that has been meted out to the ‘annadatas’ (food providers) in Lakhimpur Kheri. You know that the son of the Union minister of state for Home is the main accused in running a vehicle over the farmers.
“Owing to political pressure, the Uttar Pradesh government has from the beginning tried to stifle the voice of justice. The Supreme Court has said that it seems the government is trying to save a special accused person,” she said.
Four farmers were mowed down by an SUV in the convoy at Lakhimpur Kheri when a group agitating against the Centre’s three new farm laws was holding a demonstration against the visit of Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya on 3 October.
Two BJP workers and a driver were beaten to death allegedly by the angry protesters, and a local journalist was killed in the violence.
With inputs from PTI