New Delhi: MP Varun Gandhi who was dropped from the BJP’s National Executive after speaking on behalf of farmers protesting against the new laws and calling for justice for those killed in UP’s Lakhimpur Kheri – has called for a “rethink” of the country’s agriculture policies.
The Lok Sabha MP from UP’s Pilibhit tweeted a video of a farmer from Lakhimpur who said he had been forced to burn his paddy crop because it had remained unsold for 15 days.
“A farmer from Uttar Pradesh – Samodh Singh – was going from mandi (wholesale market) to mandi for 15 days trying to sell his crop. After failing to do so, in desperation, he burned his entire crop,” Mr Gandhi wrote as he shared the video.
The video shows a man – said to be Mr Singh – throwing kerosene on his crop and, despite some trying to hold him back, he sets fire to the whole thing.
“What has this system reduced farmers to? We need to rethink our agriculture policy,” Mr Gandhi, who is the only BJP leader, so far, to speak up on the Lakhimpur Kheri deaths, for which Ashish Mishra, the son of Union Minister Ajay Mishra, is an accused and is in jail.
The BJP MP has been particularly critical of his party in UP; on Thursday he tweeted photos of floods in the state’s Terai region and slammed the Yogi Adityanath administration.
“Much of the Terai is flooded. Donating dry rations by hand so no family is hungry till this calamity ends. It is painful that when the common man needs the system the most, he is left to fend for himself. If every response is individual-led then what does ‘governance’ mean?”
Uttar Pradesh votes for a new Assembly and government next year, with the BJP eager to retain control of the politically key state ahead of general elections in 2024.
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