- Thursday, April 18, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
THE Shiv Sena has taken a strong dig at Indian prime minister Narendra Modi over his silence on the recent violence in Lakhimpur Kheri district of Uttar Pradesh which resulted in deaths of eight people, including four protesting farmers. It said while the prime minister gets emotional on several issues, it was surprising to see that he has not reacted to the October 3 incident till now.
In its editorial mouthpiece Saamana, Sena, which was once an ally of Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), said, “PM Modi gets emotional on several issues. It is surprising how he has not spoken till now on the Lakhimpur incident.”
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The Sena left the NDA over political differences with the BJP in 2019. Last year, Shiromani Akali Dal, another BJP ally, also left the NDA protesting the Modi government’s controversial agricultural laws against which the farmers have been protesting.
A political storm has erupted over the violence after a car of a convoy that allegedly had the son of India’s minister of state for home affairs Ajay Mishra inside ran over a group of protesting farmers. Four persons in the car were thrashed to death by the angry crowd.
Lakhimpur Kheri violence: 8, including 4 farmers, dead
A number of opposition leaders were either stopped or detained thereafter when they tried to reach the spot to meet the victims’ kin. The Yogi Adityanath government of the state faced a huge backlash over the incident. It later announced compensation for the dead and injured farmers and a probe into the incident under a retired judge of the high court but the opposition leaders were not convinced.
Neither Modi nor Indian home minister Amit Shah has reacted to the incident so far. Modi was set to visit UP’s capital Lucknow on Tuesday (5) to take part in a three-day urban conclave.
