Farmers and police clash at ITO in Delhi on Tuesday. (Express photo by Tashi Tobgyal) Even as national BJP leaders from Punjab maintained a studious silence over the violence in Delhi by protesting farmers, state
BJP president Ashwani Sharma Wednesday strongly condemned the violence and squarely blamed AAP and Congress for it.
Sharma said that it was because of “surreptitious support” of the Congress and the AAP that disruptive forces had become emboldened to “disgrace the nation” on Republic Day.
Making an appeal to the Punjabis to keep peace, Sharma hit out at the Chief Minister Amarinder Singh for lending support to anti-national forces “which brought shame” to the nation at the Red Fort.
“The incidents have reaffirmed the stand of the BJP that many anti-national elements had infiltrated the farmers’ campaign to bring bad name to the nation,” he said.
Senior BJP leaders at national level representing Punjab refused to comment on the developments saying that they had been asked by the party high command not to make any comments.
However, speaking privately many said that the events that took place on Republic Day in Delhi were not hard to forecast because it was well known that “urban naxals” and separatist elements had infiltrated the farmers’ movement.
“We were mocked for saying that the farmers’ agitation had been compromised. Our leaders in Punjab were heckled, their houses were picketed and in one instance even dung was heaped at a senior leader’s doorstep because of our predictions. But we have now been proven right,” a senior BJP leader who did not want to be named said.
Another leader blamed CM Amarinder Singh and the state Congress leadership for having “fanned the fires” which led to the mayhem in Delhi.
“The full support given by the state government to these unruly elements gave them a free hand. It is an unprecedented development where a sitting state government has actively colluded with anti-national forces in order to secure votes in the Assembly elections,” a leader said.
Senior party functionaries of Punjab said that having failed to fulfil promises made in the run up to the 2017 elections, Congress and Capt Amarinder Singh attempted to encash the farmers’ agitation by encouraging the ‘dharna’ at Delhi borders and making the right noises in support of it.
“Many people are today saying that the police in Delhi should have used force against the agitators who went on rampage. But these same people would have been the first to blame the BJP had there been loss of lives in any clash due to police action,” said a BJP office bearer.
A senior BJP leader said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had a soft corner for the people of Punjab and this why the Union government did not respond with a heavy hand in New Delhi.
“But the visuals of what happened at the Red Fort have shamed us all. What must the entire world think of us? Is it right to plant a religious flag and a union flag at a place where the national flag is hoisted?” he asked.
Another senior leader said: “It is very painful to see what is happening in Punjab. We have gone through similar troubled times 30-35 years back. The peace in Punjab has been gained with much difficulty. Why are Congress and AAP bent upon disturbing this hard earned peace for petty political gains?”