Hours after BJP MP Varun Gandhi shared a video on the Lakhimpur Kheri violence demanding accountability, the parliamentarian and his mother Maneka Gandhi’s names were found missing from the party’s national executive committee list that was released by national president JP Nadda.

Sharing a 37-second video, the BJP MP from Pilibhit constituency in Uttar Pradesh said, “The video is crystal clear. Protestors can’t be silenced through murder. There has to be accountability for innocent blood of farmers that has been spilled and justice must be delivered before a message of arrogance and cruelty enters the minds of every farmer.”

A little later when Nadda announced the 80-member National Executive of the party, the names of Varun and his mother, a former Union minister, were absent. 

The names of its top brass, ranging from Prime Minister Narendra Modi to many Union ministers, several state leaders and veterans like LK Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi figured in the list.

The National Executive is made of top leaders who meet to discuss key issues facing the government and shapes the organisation’s agenda.

Varun, a three-time BJP MP, had earlier said the Lakhimpur Kheri violence in which at least eight persons, including farmers and a local journalist, had died was a result of a crime by an individual or by a group and should not be seen as an administrative failure.

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A day after the violence, he had said in an interview with HT, communication between farmers protesting against the three central agri laws and the government had to be a continuous process. He sought action against the perpetrators and cautioned against using pejorative terms for any community.

Varun had also written to Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath urging him to take strict action against the culprits of the Lakhimpur Kheri incident and suggested a Supreme Court-monitored probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in a time-bound manner.