The Lakhimpur Kheri incident has triggered a sense of discomfort among the BJP’s rank and file ahead of the crucial assembly elections scheduled next year. While a section of the BJP leaders claims that the incident was a ‘pre-planned conspiracy’ and has ‘Khalistani links’, others are just hoping that the situation doesn’t snowball.
Two ministers in the Yogi Adityanath-led government, speaking to The Indian Express, have expressed anguish at the handling of the situation by the leadership.
“We are hurt from both sides – on one hand our workers were killed and on another, our government is in the dock,” the minister said in Hindi. He alleged that political feedback is set aside and is never discussed while the government relies on bureaucratic feedback. The minister underlined that even the bureaucracy had no sense of the build-up in the district.
The minister added that one should avoid making a reckless statement in such a situation. He was referring to MoS Ajay Mishra’s provocative remarks a week before the incident that is considered to have fuelled local resentment.
A UP BJP office-bearer who recently travelled to Saharanpur claimed that there was no visible agitation except SP workers in their red caps at some places. Another minister in the UP government chose to wait and watch while claiming that he didn’t notice the agitation spreading to other places.
However, some BJP leaders invoked Khalistani links. “Was terrorist Bhindranwale a farmer? The way goons posing as farmers are carrying out violent agitations in Uttar Pradesh, it seems this is not a coincidence but a well-planned experiment. Jihadi and Khalistani, anarchic elements want to spread unrest in the state,” said Y Satya Kumar, BJP national secretary and party’s co-in-charge for UP. BJP UP spokesperson Harish Chandra Srivastava also alleged that Khalistanis had killed BJP workers in Lakhimpur.
BJP MP from Pilibhit Varun Gandhi, however, cautioned the party leaders against using demeaning language for the struggling farmers. Gandhi has also written to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath seeking to register a murder case against those involved in the death of farmers.