A video showing an SUV running over a group of protestors was shared by the Congress and several social media users on Tuesday. The party claimed that the video showed the incident that triggered violence in Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur Kheri district on Sunday killing eight people, including four farmers.
Farmer bodies had alleged that three farmers died after a vehicle that was part of a convoy of Union minister Ajay Mishra had run over protestors agitating against the contentious agriculture laws passed by the Centre last year.
The police have not yet verified the authenticity of the video. Scroll.in could not verify the video independently. However, the locale that can be seen in the video looks similar to visuals that had emerged after Sunday’s incident.
“The silence from the [Prime Minister Narendra] Modi govt [government] makes them complicit,” the Congress said in a tweet sharing the video.
Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra shared the video and questioned why the person who ran over the farmers has not been arrested yet even as she continues to remain in custody. Vadra was detained on Monday while on her way to Lakhimpur Kheri. She was taken to a guest house in Sitapur district.
Later, she posted a video message asking Prime Minister Narendra Modi why Ajay Mishra had not been dismissed from the Union Cabinet yet. She also sought the prime minister’s response on why the minister’s son Ashish Mishra had not been arrested.
Farmer bodies had claimed that the vehicle belonged to Ashish Mishra.
However, in response to Vadra, a Twitter user claimed that the windshield of the vehicle was broken before it rammed into the farmers, indicating that it had been attacked by the protestors. The Twitter user posted a screengrab from the video of the vehicle running over the farmers.
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On Sunday, Ajay Mishra had told a news channel that stones were thrown at the vehicle, which led to the driver losing control and ramming into the farmers. He had said that the driver died in the accident. The Union minister had also denied that his son was present at the spot.
On Monday, the police filed a first information report against Ashish Mishra and several others in connection with the violence.
Meanwhile, BJP MP Varun Gandhi also shared the video saying it would “shake up anybody’s soul”.
“Police should take cognisance of this video, identify the owner of this vehicle and those sitting in it and arrest them immediately,” he said in a tweet in Hindi.
Aam Aadmi Party MLA Raghav Chadha tweeted: “In Nazi Germany Jews were exterminated in gas chambers, in India under BJP farmers are mowed down by cars.”
Meanwhile, Swaraj India leader Yogendra Yadav said in a tweet: “First they crushed farmers, now they are crushing democracy.”
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