Hyderabad: Congress seeks trial by fast-track court in Lakhimpur Kheri incident

Hyderabad: Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee president and MP A Revanth Reddy has demanded that the accused in the Lakhimpur Kheri incident be tried through a fast track court and are hanged in full public view.

Speaking after the end of 'Maun Vrat' at Dharna Chowk on Monday as part of the All India Congress Committee (AICC) call for a nationwide protest against the killing of farmers at Lakhimpur Kheri, Revanth demanded immediate arrest of all the accused involved in the violence besides immediate removal of Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Mishra from the cabinet.

Adding that hundreds of farmers have lost their lives fighting the contentious farm laws in the last 11 months, the State Congress chief said that the Centre was not even ready to listen to the legitimate demands of tillers. He alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah were hell bent on enslaving farmers in the hands of Adani and Ambani.

Training his guns against Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao for not condemning the massacre of farmers in Lakhimpur Kheri, Revanth said Modi and KCR were two sides of the same coin and their bonding was like "Fevicol ka Jod", which would not break.

"KCR initially opposed the three controversial farm laws. But he changed his stance after his secret pact with PM Modi and Amit Shah during his last visit to Delhi," he alleged, adding that the CM KCR did not speak a single word against the incident.

"BJP at the Centre and TRS in Telangana came to power for two terms with the support of farmers. But now, they are suppressing the poor farmers with some leaders from the ruling party even resorting to killing those raising voices against the government's policies," he said.

Revanth compared the Lakhimpur Kheri incident with the Nerella-Sircilla incident of Telangana. "When farmers in Sircilla constituency, represented by CM KCR's son KT Rama Rao, objected to illegal sand mining in their areas, they were run over by trucks belonging to TRS-backed sand mafia. Many farmers were implicated in false cases and subjected to third-degree torture. There are a lot of similarities between Lakhimpur Kheri and Nerella-Sircilla incidents and justice is yet to be done to farmers in both the cases," he said.

The TPCC president later addressed an all-party meeting at Indira Bhavan on the issue of caste-based census. Stating that the Congress party always supported the cause of social justice, he said caste-based census would ensure social justice for all, especially the Backward Classes.