New Delhi, Oct 5 (IANS) Calling the Lakhimpur Kheri violence unfortunate, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday said the opposition parties are politicising the incident.
The BJP Kisan Morcha National President, Rajkumar Chahar told IANS that when an investigation is underway, he failed to understand why opposition leaders are in a hurry to visit Lakhimpur Kheri.
A Lok Sabha member from Fatehpur Sikri, Chahar said, "An unfortunate incident happened and when the state government is taking action, why they (opposition leaders) are so adamant to visit. First let the state government take action and allow families of the deceased victims to hold their last rites after completing the post-mortem. They can visit the area later."
Referring to police action against protesting farmers in Congress-ruled Rajasthan, the BJP leader said, "Congress leaders who are very keen to visit Lakhimpur Kheri have not uttered a single word against police lathicharge on farmers in Hanumangarh, Rajasthan."
Chahar criticised Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel's visit to Uttar Pradesh after the violence and said the Congress is starting a new practice against set norms.
"What Congress Chief Minister Baghel is doing is not correct and it will start new practice against the democratic norms. Will they like and allow the Chief Minister of a non-Congress ruled state to visit a Congress-ruled state after any unfortunate incident concerning law and order. It is a dangerous practice started by the Congress Chief Minister and I condemn the interference of a Chief Minister in the matters of another state," he said.
Chahar said the state government has already announced financial assistance to the families of the deceased and a judicial inquiry to find the cause behind the violence as well as provide a job to one member from the families of the deceased.
Nine persons were killed during a farmers' protest in Lakhimpur Kheri which turned violent on Sunday. The Uttar Pradesh government has announced a financial compensation of Rs 45 lakh to the kin of the deceased farmers while assistance of Rs 10 lakh will be given to the injured persons. A judicial inquiry by a retired high court judge has been ordered into the entire sequence of events which led to the violence.
Ranjit Singh, a former follower of Ram Rahim, was shot dead by four assailants on July 10, 2002, in Kurukshetra after he allegedly "raised his voice" against the self-styled godman, who is currently lodged at the high-security Sunaria jail in Rohtak, 250 kms from state capital Chandigarh.
Bharatiya Janata Party chief J P Nadda on Tuesday asked the Congress national leadership to clarify their stand on whether they support the remarks on Kashmir and Pakistan made by party leaders in Punjab. Nadda said that the silence of the Congress leadership will be seen as being implicit to such objectionable remarks.
The farmers union leaders had earlier pointed out that Punjab had failed to hike sugarcane SAP in proportion to Haryana over this period, causing fiscal losses to them.
The Punjab Congress leaders who have distanced themselves from the so-called festering revolt in the party are: Kuldeep Vaid, Dalvir Singh Goldie, Santokh Singh, Angad Singh, Raja Warring and Gurkirat Singh Kotli, all MLAs, and Bhalaipur Ajit Singh Mofar, a former MLA.
Gurbachan Singh (55) was a relieved man after he welcomed his three sons at Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport here. They were among the 78 Afghan- Indians who were evacuated from Kabul to Tajikistan on Monday and to Delhi on Tuesday afternoon.
Addressing a press conference at the party headquarters along with former Finance Minister P. Chidamabaram, Gandhi said: "The Prime Minister and the BJP said that the Congress had done nothing in last 70 years. There is a list here of all the assets that the Congress has helped build using the public money.
