Bharatiya Janata Party leader Maneka Gandhi on Monday dusted her non-inclusion in the party’s national executive committee last week saying that did not reduce her stature. Asserting that she is satisfied to be in the party for 20 years, the 65-years-old leader said that her non-inclusion in the top posts does not reduce her stature.
"I am satisfied to be in the BJP for 20 years. Not being in the executive does not reduce one's stature. My first religion is to serve. It is more important that I get a place in the hearts of people," Gandhi was quoted by news agency ANI.
Maneka Gandhi and her son Varun Gandhi were dropped from BJP’s national executive committee on October 7.
Maneka Gandhi is a BJP MP from Sultanpur, while Varun Gandhi is an MP from the Pilibhit constituency.
She pointed out that other senior leaders have not got a place in the executive committee. “New people should also get an opportunity. I am aware of my duties and serving the people of my constituency is my first duty," the ANI quoted the leader.
The development came after Varun Gandhi criticised the violence that took place in Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur Kheri in which 8 farmers were killed who were peacefully protesting against the Centre’s three farm laws. Ms Gandhi too has been sympathetic towards the farmer’s issues.
Mr Gandhi had brushed off the omission from the top posts saying he never attended any meeting of the executive committee in five years, while a part of the party said that his criticism of the party wasn’t welcomed by the top leadership.
Further four days after the incident, he posted a video on Twitter showing a car running over a bunch of unarmed protestors and called it a “murder” and demanded accountability and stated that justice must be given “before a message of arrogance and cruelty enters the minds of every farmer”. He had also asked for a compensation of Rs 1 crore for the victims of the families in a letter to UP CM Yogi Adityanath with a request for a CBI probe into the case. As Ajay Mishra commented that the incident was engineered by Khalistanis, Mr Varun Gandhi said it was an attempt to give the case a communal colour.
"To use the word Khalistani liberally to describe the protesting farmers is not only an insult to the generations of these proud sons of the Terai that have fought and shed blood on our borders, but it is also extremely dangerous for our national unity if this provokes the wrong kind of reaction," Gandhi said, without naming the minister.
The Opposition has slammed BJP for the violence that broke out in UPs Lakhimpur Kheri on October 3, when the vehicle of union minister Ajay Mishra’s son rammed the protesters claiming they were first attacked by the mob, while the protestors have denied Mishra’s claim saying they were protesting peacefully.