‘There has to be accountability’: BJP MP Varun Gandhi tweets Lakhimpur video, seeks justice

The video is crystal clear. Protestors cannot be silenced through murder. There has to be accountability for the innocent blood of farmers that has been spilled and justice must be delivered before a message of arrogance and cruelty enters the minds of every farmer. 🙏🏻🙏🏻 pic.twitter.com/Z6NLCfuujK

— Varun Gandhi (@varungandhi80) October 7, 2021

He posted a 37-second video in which a speeding Mahindra Thar jeep is seen running over people. Two SUVs — one black and another white — was seen following the jeep while there is commotion of people shouting and crying in the video.

The video, which has gone viral on social medial, is said to have been taken on October 3, the day on which violence took place in Lakhimpur Kheri.

Gandhi has been critical of the happenings in Lakhimpur Kheri, condemning those involved in the death of farmers and urging the government to be patient and restrained in its approach.

“This is extremely unfortunate and it is also dangerous for the country. Because instead of understanding what the struggling farmers are saying we cannot start using pejorative language for them,” Gandhi told The Indian Express. He was reacting to BJP spokesperson Harish Chandra Srivastava’s tweet in which he blamed “Khalistani” elements for the violence on Sunday.

Pointing out that the community under attack has a “disproportionate presence in the armed forces”, the three-term MP warned: “It’s a community that has laid their lives down generation after generation to protect our nation and they are a community that is completely selfless in the way they sacrificed their lives. If we are going to talk about them in demeaning and pejorative terms, it is not only unfair and cruel but it can also, God forbid, lead to a reaction among people who at the moment are very peaceful.”