Gandhis share Lakhimpur video, ask Modi for justice

Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Tuesday shared a video clip purportedly showing an SUV mowing down farmers in Lakhimpur Kheri and asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi why no action has been taken against the accused.

The authenticity of the video has not yet been verified. While Rahul Gandhi shared the purported footage on Facebook, Priyanka Gandhi as well as AAP leader Sanjay Singh posted the video on Twitter.

"Modi ji, you are coming to Lucknow to celebrate the Amrit Mahotsav of independence, but have you seen this video. This video shows how the son of a minister in your government has mowed down farmers. Please see this video and tell the country why this minister has not yet been dismissed and this boy not yet arrested," Priyanka Gandhi asked two days after eight people were killed during a farmers' protest in Uttar Pradesh's Lakhimpur Kheri district.

The Congress general secretary asked the prime minister, in Lucknow on Tuesday to inaugurate a programme of the 'Azadi ka Amrut Mahotsav' celebrations, to visit Lakhimpur Kheri and give justice to the farmers.

While four of the dead in Sunday's incident were farmers, allegedly knocked down by vehicles driven by BJP workers travelling to welcome Uttar Pradesh deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya, the others were BJP workers and their driver who were allegedly lynched. On Monday, police registered a murder case against Ashish Mishra, the son of Union minister of state for home Ajay Mishra, and several others over the death of the farmers.

Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi said the country's Constitution was in danger. Humanity is also in danger if people do not get disturbed by seeing the video, he said.

"If a minister's son mows down agitating farmers under his car, then the country's Constitution is in danger. If he not taken into custody even after the appearance of this video, then the country's Constitution is in danger. If a woman leader is kept in custody for 30 hours without an FIR, then the country's constitution is in danger," he said in a Facebook post.

Priyanka Gandhi, who was detained in Sitapur on her way to Lakhimpur Kheri, said it was the farmers who got freedom for the country and their sons sitting on the border are protecting India now.

"You have arrested leaders like me without any FIR or order, I want to know why is this man still free," she asked Modi in her tweet.

"I urge you to come to Lakhimpur and listen to the pain of the annadata and those who got freedom and are the soul of India. It is your duty and that of the Constitution to protect them," she said.

Addressing Modi, the Congress leader added that his government had kept her in custody for the last 28 hours without any order and FIR.

Priyanka Gandhi also asked why opposition leaders like her have been detained without any FIR or order and why the accused are moving around freely and not been arrested.

Sanjay Singh echoed her on the microblogging site. What more proof is required after sharing the purported video, he said.

Ajay Mishra and his son Ashish have demanded a judicial probe into the violence. The minister has denied his son's presence at the crime scene and cited an alibi that he was at a local school where a wrestling match was underway on Sunday.