Sanjay Raut likened the Lakhimpur Kheri incident to the killing of Babu Genu by Britishers (File)
Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut today wondered if crushing farmers and stifling the voices of opposition leaders who stand in their support are BJP's new strategy, a day after eight people were killed in violence that erupted during a farmers' protest in UP's Lakhimpur Kheri.
Talking to reporters, Sanjay Raut said when the BJP protested over the rape in Mumbai's Saki Naka, "we (the state government) did not stop anyone from going to the crime site".
"Farmers have been run over allegedly by the car of a minister's son (in Lakhimpur Kheri). Where does such cruelty come from?" asked the Rajya Sabha member, whose party shares power with the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Congress in Maharashtra.
He said Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and other leaders were stopped when they were on their way to Lakhimpur Kheri to show solidarity with the farmers protesting over their demand to repeal the Centre's three agri-marketing laws.
"Does the BJP have a new strategy of crushing farmers and stifling the voices of opposition leaders who show solidarity with them?" Sanjay Raut asked.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaks about farmers' interests, while state governments headed by the BJP "kill farmers" by running them over with cars, the Sena's chief spokesperson claimed.
Sanjay Raut likened the Lakhimpur Kheri incident to the case of revolutionary Babu Genu, who was run over by a Britisher's truck while protesting in Mumbai during the Independence struggle.