Cong steps up attack on govt over Lakhimpur SIT report

A day after the Special Investigation Team probing the Lakhimpur Kheri violence said it was a "pre-planned conspiracy", the Congress stepped up its attack on the government on Wednesday, demanding the dismissal of Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Mishra. 

Former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi said the government will have to sack the minister in order to provide justice to the victims of the Lakhimpur Kheri violence.

"He should resign," Gandhi told reporters when asked whether Mishra should put in his papers.

He also said Opposition leaders are trying to ensure a discussion in Parliament on the October 3 violence in Lakhimpur Kheri district of Uttar Pradesh that left eight people including four farmers dead, but the government is not allowing them.

"We are trying. They (government) are not allowing us to speak, that is why the House is being disrupted," the Congress leaders told reporters outside Parliament.

"Their minister is involved and we have sought a discussion on the issue, but they are not allowing," he said.

Gandhi earlier gave an adjournment notice in the Lok Sabha, demanding an immediate discussion on the Lakhimpur Kheri violence.

"I hereby give notice of my intention to ask for leave to move a motion for the adjournment of the business of the House for the purpose of discussing a definite matter of urgent importance.

"The UP Police SIT report has highlighted that massacre of farmers at Lakhimpur was a pre-planned conspiracy and not a negligent act. The SIT has recommended for the modification of the charges against all the accused," he said in his notice submitted to the Lok Sabha secretary general.

"The government should immediately sack the MoS, Home Affairs, Ajay Kumar Mishra, and ensure that justice is delivered to the families of the victims," Gandhi said in his notice.

The Congress members in both houses of Parliament raised an uproar demanding a discussion on the Lakhimpur incident and forced adjournments of the proceedings.

The Special Investigation Team has submitted before a court that the killing of the four farmers and a journalist in Lakhimpur Kheri, in which Ajay Mishra's son Ashish is among the 13 accused, was a "pre-planned conspiracy" and also sought to substitute lesser charges in the case with graver ones.

After hearing the arguments on the application moved by the SIT, Lakhimpur Chief Judicial Magistrate Chinta Ram on Tuesday allowed it to add Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 307 (attempt to murder) and 326 (voluntarily causing injuries by dangerous weapons) in the FIR in which Ashish Mishra is the main accused, senior prosecution officer SP Yadav told PTI. The relevant charges under the Arms Act were also allowed to be added.

The violence in Tikunia in Lakhimpur Kheri district on October 3 that set off a political storm ahead of the 2022 Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, among other states, left a total of eight people, including two BJP workers, dead and two separate FIRs were filed in connection with the incident.

The violence erupted when a group of farmers was protesting against the visit of Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya to Ajay Mishra's native place.

Gandhi had alleged on Tuesday that the Opposition was not being allowed to raise matters of public importance in Parliament, which was merely a building and a museum now.