Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut said on Tuesday that the violence in Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur Kheri on Sunday, which killed at least eight people, including farmers and a local journalist, had shaken the nation. Raut met Rahul Gandhi later in the day to discuss the detention of Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi and restrictions on political leaders’ movement to meet farmers, citing the need for joint opposition to the government’s oppression in UP.
Plans are in the works for a joint opposition action on the Lakhimpur Kheri violence, with the Shiv Sena leading the charge to forge a united front against the government. Meanwhile, a Trinamool Congress delegation led by MPs Kakoli Ghosh, Sushmita Sen, Dola Sen, and Pratima Mandal is said to have met with the families of the deceased farmers, with Sushmita alleging that not only were farmers run over on Sunday, killing four people but that shots were also fired.
Congress leaders Priyanka Vadra and Deepender Hooda, meanwhile, remain in preventive detention at Sitapur guesthouse near Lakhimpur Kheri. Deepender Hooda said, “Those who mowed down farmers are free and we are in detention for over 36 hours. Farmer families are mourning and the government is celebrating in Lucknow. I wish to ask fellow Indians whether they will support those who ran over farmers or those fighting against this violence.”