NEW DELHI: CPI(M) Rajya Sabha MP Elamaram Kareem on Tuesday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and demanded that Ajay Kumar Mishra be sacked from the Union Council of Ministers, alleging "his direct involvement in the attack against farmers" in Lakhimpur Kheri in Uttar Pradesh.
Terming the killing of four farmers "gruesome", Kareem claimed that there is "clear video evidence of the convoy, with sirens blaring, driving into the farmers and killing them."
Eight people were killed Sunday as violence erupted during a farmers' protest. Four of the dead were farmers, allegedly knocked down by vehicles driven by BJP workers. The others were BJP workers and a driver who were allegedly pulled out of the vehicles and lynched by the protesters.
The Uttar Pradesh Police has lodged a case against Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Ajay Kumar Mishra's son but no arrest has been made so far.
CPI(M) MP Kareem said the minister "blatantly violated all democratic norms and his responsibility towards the people of this nation by making a most provocative speech on September 25 threatening and inciting violence against farmers who were protesting against the farm laws."
Even after the killings, in which his son was involved, the minister has justified the atrocity, blaming the farmers, the MP said.
The CPI(M) leader said that no inquiry into the incident can be impartial with him continuing as the Minister of State for Home Affairs.
"So, I hereby demand you for an urgent sacking of the Union Minister of State for Home Affairs for his direct responsibility in the barbaric atrocity. This cruelty on peacefully protesting farmers denotes complete lack of governance and exposes the jungle raj in the state of UP," he said.