The Communist Party of India on Monday sought the removal of Union Minister for Home Ajay Mishra Teni, saying his son has been arrested in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence case and "justice will not be served with his continuation as minister".
Addressing a press conference, CPI-M general secretary Sitaram Yechury said that Ajay Mishra Teni's son Ashish Mishra, the prime accused in the massacre of farmers has finally been arrested after a Supreme Court indictment.
"Minister Ajay Mishra Teni must be immediately sacked from the Union Cabinet for his role in this barbaric atrocity in which eight people have lost their lives, including four farmers and a journalist. Justice cannot be delivered with his continuation as Minster," he said.
Yechury said that the large volume of the recorded footage of the incident clearly shows the "deliberate manner in which this brutality was executed".
"The prime accused can be identified in this footage. The party demands the immediate dismissal of Minister Ajay Mishra and stringent action against Ashish Mishra on charges of brutal cold-blooded murder," he said.
Yechury also slammed the government over the "intolerable price rise" and added that the price of petrol and diesel have been hiked for six continuous days.
"During the last ten months, these prices have been increased by over Rs. 20 per litre. On average, petrol costs around Rs 110 and diesel over Rs 100 per litre. This is crippling the livelihoods of the vast majority of our people," he said.
Yechury said the hike have set in motion an overall inflationary spiral and the higher costs of transportation have led to a backbreaking price rise of all essential commodities.
"Cooking oil, vegetables and fruits, milk etc are all exorbitantly expensive. In the first nine months of 2021, the prices of cooking gas cylinders increased by Rs 205 and in many parts of the country, a cylinder costs more than Rs. 1,000. The Consumer Price Index has seen a continuous increase," he said.
Yechury said the central excise duties on petroleum products must be immediately withdrawn. "In 2020, the Central government collected a whopping Rs. 3.61 lakh crores of extra revenue from these duties."
The CPI-M also condemned the recent killing of innocent people in the Kashmir valley.
The party said abrogation of Articles 370 was proclaimed as the"true" integration of Jammu and Kashmir with India and to end the problems of militancyand alienation in Kashmir" but the union territory has been brought to "this pass of heightened violence".
The party said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's meeting with the leaders of Jammu and Kashmir in June this year with promises of erasing `Dil ki doori, Dilli ki doori' remains an "empty rhetoric" and added that the confidence of the people of Jammu and Kashmir must be earned to ensure peace and tranquillity.
( With inputs from ANI )
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