The crowd at the BJP rally in Ferozepur, Punjab, on Wednesday amid rain. (Express photo: Gurmeet Singh) The alert issued by the IMD’s Chandigarh office on January 3 was clear that most parts of Punjab witness light to moderate rainfall on January 5. It further pointed out that rainfall to hit the state between January 4 to 6, would peak on January 5. As the events played out on the fateful day, Wednesday, it rained 21 mm in Ferozepur and 10.4 mm in Bathinda, said the IMD report.
In Muktsar, it rained the maximum in Punjab that day which was 30.5 mm.
But as it focuses on the security breach, BJP says that weather was never an issue.
When asked why the rally was not postponed despite the weather alert, Anil Sareen, BJP spokesperson, said, “Here the bigger question is of security breach and not of weather….there was so much enthusiasm among workers that the rally was not postponed.”
He added: “Despite the weather conditions, workers were on their way to reach the spot, but they were stopped on the way by state-sponsored protestors at various locations.”
He added, “It wasn’t possible to make the entire pandal as waterproof, so only stage was covered. We had told workers to bring umbrellas from their houses which only a few brought. Few others couldn’t. Above all, I want to mention that our workers are used to work in the harshest possible conditions. Sitting under rain is not an issue for them..”
BJP supporters during the rally in Ferozepur, Punjab. Dinesh Kumar, organisational secretary of BJP, said, “PM’s programme was pre-decided and wasn’t to be cancelled. If air route wasn’t clear due to bad weather, road route should have been clear. Rally would have happened had we not faced hassles on roads.”
When asked if it was advisable to make spectators sit in cold amid rain in open for hours to listen to the speakers, he said that the bigger issue was of security breach as of now and not weather.
Parveen Bansal, vice president of state BJP, added, “I myself got stuck in traffic one km short of venue where 25-30 protestors had blocked the road and were not allowing our buses to move ahead. I myself walked by foot for a km to reach the venue.”
Bansal did maintain that he walked amid rain to reach the venue.
In a big-ticket rally, shouldn’t weather alert be taken into consideration? Bansal agreed that it should be. However, he again passed the buck as he said that it wasn’t expected that it will rain so heavily.
Prof Rajinder Bhandari, former president of BJP Punjab, said, “Our workers were ready to sit in that weather as they are too dedicated but they were stopped by handful of protestors at many locations..So, weather wasn’t an issue at all. Our PM had also come to Punjab but his way was stopped by state-sponsored protestors. We had not anticipated that it will rain throughout the day. We had provided masks to everyone, however umbrellas were less in number because of vast arrangements of rally. We had told our workers to stay peaceful, otherwise the handful of protestors were enjoying tea and pakore with cops and the cops were showing helplessness in making our buses move ahead. Had our workers lost their patience, there would have been clashes at many places . ”
Dr Subash Sharma, general secretary of BJP Punjab, said, “Moderate rainfall was predicted and we had not expected that it will rain almost the whole day. Sometimes you fail to judge the forecast. Despite the rain, we would have created a history had state government not played a spoilsport.”
BJP leaders also said they had plans to bring umbrellas with BJP symbol to the spot. They also indicated that in poll bound state, the party had no plans to postpone the rally as code of conduct could be implemented any day.
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