On the first anniversary of Lakhimpur Kheri violence, the Congress on Monday attacked the Modi government over the continuation of Ajay Misra ‘Teni’ as a Minister as it cited the alleged involvement of his son in mowing down of farmers protesting against the three farm laws that have now been repealed.
"Nothing can be more insulting that the farmers agitating against the black laws were deliberately killed while the culprit remains a member of the Union council of ministers," Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh told reporters.
There was clear evidence that the minister’s son was involved in the killing, he alleged.
Misra’s son Ashish Misra was arrested in the case after four farmers were crushed under the wheels of a convoy of cars and four others, including two BJP workers, were killed in apparently retaliatory violence.
Addressing a press conference, Ramesh also hailed Rahul Gandhi’s address to people in Karnataka while heavy rains drenched him as a "defining" moment during the Congress’ ongoing Bharat Jodo Yatra.
It was a historic day and shows people’s support to the yatra, he said. The more Gandhi and people are praised for this, the less it will be, he claimed. Congress delegates who are part of the foot march may vote in the election for the party president through postal ballots, he said, adding there is also a possibility that they can come down to Bengaluru to vote on October 17. The yatra will be passing through Karnataka around that time.
Ramesh claimed that popular support to the yatra has rattled the BJP and slammed the Enforcement Directorate’s summons to Karnataka Congress president D K Shivakumar in the National Herald case as continuation of the government’s "vendetta politics".