Days after failing to find a place in the BJP national executive committee, BJP MP Varun Gandhi on Thursday shared on Twitter a short video clip of a speech of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee from 1980 in which he warns the then Indira Gandhi government against repressing farmers and extends his support to them.

Taking to Twitter, Varun Gandhi said: "Wise words from a big-hearted leader..."

According to news agency PTI the video is from 1980 and Mr Vajpayee is cautioning the then Indira Gandhi government against repressing farmers.

In the video clip, Vajpayee is heard telling a gathering that farmers cannot be scared. "If the government will suppress (farmers), misuse laws and repress a peaceful agitation, then we will not shy away from joining the farmers' struggle and standing with them," he is heard saying.

Varun Gandhi has been sympathetic to the farmers' cause over their protests against three agricultural laws and often tweeted in their support, a stand which is said to have not gone down well with the BJP leadership. And now, the BJP MP sharing Vajpayee's speech is seen as his message to the Central government.

Meanwhile, Varun Gandhi has also sought stringent action against those responsible for the death of four farmers after vehicles, allegedly linked to BJP leaders, ran over them in Uttar Pradesh's Lakhimpur Kheri. He was recently dropped from the BJP national executive in what was seen as an indication of the party leadership's unhappiness with the Pilibhit MP.

(With input from PTI)

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