Rahul Gandhi targets govt, media over Lakhimpur violence, demands Ajay Mishra’s resignation

“We have been saying repeatedly that a minister….whose son had killed farmers…ran them over under his jeep…the (SIT) report has come that it was a conspiracy and not an isolated incident. The Prime Minister has not done anything on the minister. I know the moment I stop speaking you will ask some other question…to divert attention…Neither the media nor the government is doing its job. That is the reality,” Gandhi charged.

On October 3 this year, eight people including a journalist were allegedly killed in violence in Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur Kheri district. Ajay Mishra’s son Ashish Mishra is an accused in one of the cases related to the incident.

“The truth is that the Modi government has a hand in protecting the killer, otherwise the minister would have been sacked by now. But remember – we will get justice!” he said in a tweet in Hindi. “I am telling you today, we will ensure that this man goes behind bars and we will not spare him, today or tomorrow,” he said.

“The prime minister on one hand apologises to farmers, but on the other hand, he keeps in his cabinet a minister who is involved in the Lakhimpur Kheri incident… So the entire opposition has joined hands and come here to give a message that we will not accept what is being done against the farmers and the common people of this country,” he added.

When he was asked about his tweet on lynching, Gandhi said “Dekhiye sarkar ki dalali mat kare. Don’t divert. (See, don’t speak on the behalf of the government. Don’t divert)”