Summary:
New Delhi, Oct 16 (PTI) The Congress on Saturday said the "brutal" mowing down of farmers in Lakhimpur Kheri was a manifestation of the government"s continuing "arrogance" and slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for not removing the Union minister whose son has been arrested in connection with the incident.
The Congress Working Committee (CWC), the party"s highest decision-making body, in a resolution alleged that the last seven years have witnessed a "diabolical design" to attack the livelihood of "annadatas" and landless farm labourers.
Referring to the October 3 Lakhimpur Kheri violence in which eight people died, four of them farmers allegedly knocked down by a vehicle carrying BJP workers, the CWC said that "the brutal mowing down of farmers is a manifestation of the continuing arrogance".
"This incident was preceded by the Union minister (of state) for home affairs, himself an accused in a case of murder in which the high court has reserved judgment for 43 months, publicly threatening the farmers with dire consequences, while flaunting his own dubious antecedents," the Congress said.
Despite his son having been accused and arrested under relentless public pressure, Prime Minister Narendra Modi "shamelessly" refuses to remove Ajay Mishra as Union minister of state for home affairs, it said.
On October 3, after the four farmers were knocked down, infuriated people then allegedly lynched some people in the vehicles.