BJP leaders confront farmers on new office foundation day event in Amritsar

GS Paul

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, December 7

Senior BJP leaders, including Rajya Sabha member Shwait Malik, former cabinet minister Anil Joshi and party’s local unit president Suresh Mahajan, faced embarrassment when they had to confront the agitating farmers during the foundation stone-laying ceremony of the BJP’s new office in New Amritsar on Monday.

Ironically, amid slogans raised from both the sides in the presence of heavy deployment of police, the BJP leaders continued to perform the ‘bhumi pujan’ ceremony. Post the ceremony, the BJP leaders skipped the venue in haste.

Farmers, under the banner of the Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee (KMSC), were conducting a motorcycle rally around the city when they came to know about the BJP’s function.

The farmers were taking out a rally to sensitise every section of society and seeking their cooperation for the ‘Bharat Bandh’ call on December 8 against the anti-farm laws.

The infuriated farmers reached the venue and condemned the BJP leaders in a peaceful manner for holding an occasion at a time when their farming brethren have been protesting in biting cold.

The farmers argued that instead of blindly following the dictates of their party high command, the workers and leaders of the BJP Punjab unit should have supported the farmers of Punjab.

“How could they be so unconcerned when they get ministry seats on the basis of votes polled by Punjabis? But their actions implied that they were blindfolded under the political influence”, they said.

The KMSC’s state general secretary, Sarwan Singh Pandher, wondered that the BJP Punjab leaders showed little concern about the agrarian crisis of Punjab.

Activists of various farm unions have been staging sit-in outside the residence of Malik consistently since July.

“When the whole nation and Punjabis from abroad, including in the UK, the US and Canada, have been lodging protests against the Centre-enacted farm laws, it was an opportunity for the Punjab BJP leaders to show nerve to clear their stance by showing solidarity with the Punjab farmers”, he said.

He alleged that the BJP leaders had deliberately scheduled this programme a day prior to the farmers’ ‘Bharat Bandh’ call with an ulterior motive.

“Their aim was to scuttle the ‘bandh’ call under a deep-rooted conspiracy. The pro-BJP slogans they raised was to incite us losing our cool so that we could be entangled under the law-and-order situation. But farmers refrained from indulging in their tactics and peacefully contested the BJP leaders,” he said.

He said the current situation needed apolitical approach with a sole motive of standing with the farming community in their fight against the repressive farm laws.