BJP parliamentarian Varun Gandhi on Tuesday tweeted a video that purportedly shows farmers being run over in Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur Kheri and demanded that the owners of the cars be identified and the culprits arrested, continuing to prod his party over the farmers’ movement.
“In Lakhimpur, the video that shows cars running over farmers will shake anyone’s soul,” Varun tweeted in Hindi. “Police should take note of this video and identify the owners of the car, those sitting in the car and others involved to make immediate arrests,” added the MP from Pilibhit.
Farmers have claimed the car, which ploughed through the protesters and killed their brothers, was being driven by junior home minister Ajay Misra Teni’s son Ashis. No arrests have been made so far.
On Monday, Varun had sent a letter to Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath and tweeted it, calling for lodging a murder case against the culprits and favouring a Supreme Court-monitored CBI probe.
Earlier, too, the Lok Sabha MP had said the protesting farmers should be treated with sensitivity and had slammed party leaders for linking them with extremists.
Varun’s position on the farmers’ issue in the face of silence of the BJP leadership has raised eyebrows in party circles. While many feel he was doing the right thing, others fear his position could anger the party managers.
Varun, son of late Sanjay Gandhi, is also a member of the Nehru-Gandhi family. His cousins Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra have been championing the farmers’ cause as Congress leaders while Varun seems to be doing the same in the BJP.
Varun and his mother Maneka Gandhi, both BJP MPs, had joined the party much before the Narendra Modi-Amit Shah duo took full control of the party in 2014. The BJP then had showcased the mother and son as their own Gandhis. While Maneka was made a minister in the first Modi government, she was kept out in the second government. Varun, too, finds himself sidelined.
Modi was in Lucknow on Tuesday to participate in an event connected to his government’s housing scheme for the poor. The event was aimed to prepare the ground for the polls in the key state early next year.
Internally, the events in Lakhimpur Kheri, particularly the video showing people being run over, has led to unease and fear that it could cast a shadow on the upcoming polls.
The prolonged farmers’ protest has turned out to be a difficult proposition for the BJP to handle amid a firm stand taken by the Modi government not to accept the demand for repealing the three farm laws.
After a big show was organised by the agitating farmers at the Muzaffarnagar mahapanchayat, the Yogi government had hiked sugarcane rates, hoping to counter the influence.
The incident in Lakhimpur Kheri has triggered a fresh row and party leaders said in private that the leadership needs to deal the issue with sensitivity and patience.