Haryana BJP’s Jat leaders rap lathi-charge on farmers

CHANDIGARH: Not just opposition leaders but several senior politicians belonging to the ruling BJP have openly criticised police lathicharge on protesting farmers at Pipli in Haryana’s Kurukshetra district on Thursday. Prominent among those who have expressed their anger and disappointment include former minister and senior BJP leader Captain Abhimanyu, Bhiwani-Mahendergarh MP Dharambir Singh, Hisar MP Brijendra Singh and former Olympian Sampat Singh.
Interestingly, all the BJP leaders who have voiced opposition to the violence against farmers belong to the Jat community.

“It was really painful to see the pictures of police using force against farmers in Kurukshetra. Such an incident should not have happened. I hope the chief minister and the home minister would appropriately resolve the issue after taking its cognizance,” Captain Abhimanyu tweeted. However in the same thread, he added, “The incident has also exposed the deceit by the opposition, which tried to play with the lives of farmers... .”
‘Farmers have right to raise their voice’
In his statement on social media, Bhiwani-Mahendragarh MP Dharambir Singh also condemned the police action against farmers. “In a democratic country, instead of listening to farmers, use of force against them is a condemnable act and it is the duty of the government to find a solution by involving farmers to avoid any major crisis in future,” the MP said. Condemning the police action, Hisar MP Brijendra Singh said the farmers have all the right to raise their voice. He also criticised the action by police on the pretext of curbs related to Covid-19 pandemic and expressed “hope” that the government would remove the doubts offarmers through dialogue.
Former Haryana finance and home minister Sampat Singh, who is now a BJP politician, said force should not have been used on the farmers.
Political experts in Haryana, however, termed such statements by the leaders belonging to the ruling party as “political compulsions”, as the major vote bank of these leaders is rural voters.
When contacted, Haryana deputy CM Dushyant Chautala, whose JJP has a stronghold in the farming community, however, chose not to comment on the issue. His younger brother Digvijay Chautala had condemned the police action along with other leaders of opposition parties in the state.