Youth Congress protests near Parliament, demands dismissal of MoS Ajay Mishra

PTI, Dec 20, 2021, 6:05 PM IST

The Indian Youth Congress (IYC) on Monday held a protest near Parliament to demand the dismissal of Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Ajay Mishra in connection with the October 3 Lakhimpur Kheri violence.

Attacking the BJP government, IYC national president Srinivas BV said the party’s policy of ”crush and destroy” will no longer work.

This comes days after a special investigation team (SIT) of the Uttar Pradesh Police probing the Lakhimpur Kheri incident told a local court that the violence in which eight people, including four farmers, were killed was a ”pre-planned conspiracy.” Mishra’s son, Ashish, is among the 13 people booked in the case.

”The country has understood the chronology of BJP. Now BJP’s policy of ‘crush and destroy’ will not work. The country is demanding the dismissal of the minister to bring justice to the farmers who died in the Lakhimpur Kheri massacre,” a statement quoted Srinivas as saying.

He alleged that days before the violence, Mishra had threatened to ”reform” the farmers who were protesting the Centre’s farm laws then.

The prime minister, who praised the farmers in his speeches, should tell why Mishra is not being sacked, Srinivas said.

The involvement of the minister’s son in the Lakhimpur Kheri massacre has been proved. Despite this, the government is not taking action. So it is necessary to raise a voice against this, he said.

The level to which the government has stooped to protect the culprits of the Lakhimpur Kheri violence is not hidden from anyone, the IYC president said.

”By not sacking the Minister of State for Home, the BJP high command has exposed its anti-farmer face,” he said.