MUMBAI: State Congress president Nana Patole and Rajasthan Congress leader Sachin Pilot on Monday demanded the dismissal of the Narendra Modi-led NDA government and Yogi Adityanath-led BJP government in Uttar Pradesh for its anti-farmer policies and failure to maintain law and order at Lakhimpur Kheri in which eight people, including four farmers, were killed.
Accompanied by more than a dozen senior party leaders, including Mumbai Congress president Bhai Jagtap and working president Charansingh Sapra, Patole and Pilot staged demonstrations near Mantralaya to protest against the “high-handedness” of a Union minister and his son who allegedly ran his car over agitating farmers in Lakhimpur Kheri.
The party also condemned the UP police action of detaining Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi who was heading to Lakhimpur Kheri to meet the farmers. “Gandhi was accompanied by only two activists, including Rajya Sabha MP Deependar Singh Hooda. There was no violation of rules, but still police stopped her from reaching the village,” Patole said, adding that ever since Modi took over the reins of the nation, he has consistently taken anti-farmer decisions.
“Whatever has happened in UP...reflects the Talibani mentality of the BJP. We demand that both the NDA and UP governments should be dismissed with immediate effect,” Patole said, adding that the Congress will soon give a call for a Maharashtra bandh in support of agitating farmers.
