Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut wondered if crushing farmers and stifling the voice of opposition leaders who stand in their support was the BJP's new strategy, a day after eight people were killed in violence that erupted during a farmers' protest at Lakhimpur Kheri in Uttar Pradesh.

Talking to reporters, Raut said when a rape incident took place at Sakinaka in Mumbai (September), the BJP raised a hue and cry, and "we (state government) did not stop anyone from going to the crime site". "Farmers have been run over allegedly by the car of a minister's son (in Lakhimpur Kheri). Where does such cruelty come from?" asked the Rajya Sabha member, whose party shares power with the NCP and Congress in Maharashtra.