New Delhi: A Day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced repealing of the three farm laws, pressure has now mounted on the government to drop Union Minister for State (Home Affairs) Ajay Mishra Teni. BJP MP Varun Gandhi on Saturday requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to accept farmers' demand for statutory MSP guarantee for their crops and also sought action against Union Minister Ajay Mishra for the violence in Lakhimpur Kheri.
On the other hand, AICC general secretary Priyanka Gandhi too has urged the Prime Minister to drop Teni from his council of ministers and not share stage with him. Priyanka Gandhi made the appeal to the prime minister through a letter that she read out in front of reporters’ hours before the commencement of the DGPs conference.
"Yesterday, while addressing the countrymen, you had said that with true mind and pious heart and keeping in mind the interests of the farmers, an unprecedented decision to repeal the farm laws was taken. If this is true, then getting justice delivered to the families affected by the Lakhimpur Kheri violence should be your top priority," the Congress general secretary said.
On the other hand, her cousin Varun in his letter has said, “It is my request to you that appropriately strict action is taken against the Union minister who has been connected to this incident, so that there is a fair enquiry." The BJP MP Gandhi made the request to the prime minister without taking Mishra's name. He also claimed that the Lakhimpur incident was outcome of the adversarial atmosphere created against the farmers' movement by provocative statements of many leaders sitting in senior positions.
Gandhi also demanded that Rs 1 crore compensation be given to farmers martyred in this movement against the laws and that all "politically motivated false" FIRs against the protesting farmers be quashed. Concluding his letter, Gandhi said that farmers expect that their demands will be resolved in a timely and sensitive manner and asserted that democracy runs on constitutionality, discourse and empathy.
(With Agency Inputs)