Angry Haryana farmers target BJP, JJP leaders

A day after Khattar’s comment, farmers on April 21 staged a protest against BJP’s Sirsa candidate Ashok Tanwar during his public meeting in Dabwali town. The farmers, who wanted to ask some questions to Tanwar, raised slogans against him but security personnel prevented them from reaching him.

Before this, on April 9, farmers at Kungar village in Bhiwani forced former deputy chief minister Dushyant Chautala’s father and JJP supremo Ajay Singh Chautala to leave without holding a meeting.

Just four days before this, farmers had stopped the cavalcade of Dushyant in Nara and Gamra villages of Hisar. Holding black flags, the farmers opposed his entry to villages, forcing him to walk to the venues of his programmes. Dushyant’s mother Naina Chautala is the JJP candidate from the Hisar Lok Sabha seat.

On April 7, slogans were raised against Rohtak BJP candidate Arvind Kumar Sharma in Samain village under Meham block and Sonipat BJP candidate Mohan Lal Badoli in Rohana village.

On April 4, farmers raised slogans against BJP Hisar candidate Ranjit Singh Chautala in Shamsukh village during his poll meeting.

The farmers have been accusing the BJP and the JJP of preventing the agitating farmers from Punjab from marching to Delhi in February. They are also upset over the death of Punjab farmer Shubhkaran Singh, who died during the agitation at the Haryana-Punjab border.

With these protests, farmers in Haryana have assumed centre stage on the poll scene, which the ruling BJP and JJP may find difficult to wade through amid opponents’ claims that both parties are bearing the brunt of anti-incumbency sentiment. During the Dilli Chalo call by Punjab farmers, their Haryana counterparts had limited participation. But subsequent police action against Punjab farmers and Shubhkaran’s death ignited protests in Haryana too, besides spreading an intense resentment among the farming community.

Rishi Saini, a political observer, said, “Haryana farmers still nurse the wounds of the 2020-21 agitation against the three farm laws. Though the farm laws were repealed, the sacrifices the farmers had made during the 13-month-long agitation lives with them. And when the authorities installed iron nails, barbed wires and concrete barricades to halt farmers’ movement towards the national capital during the Dilli Chalo agitation, the memories of 2020-21 came alive. This is the reason behind the farmers’ recent protests against BJP and JJP leaders.”

Though Khattar insisted the protests were resulting in more support for the BJP, Rishi said, “Such protests may not necessarily prove beneficial to the BJP. During the 2023 Rajasthan Assembly elections, the Congress was in a better position in areas adjoining Haryana and Punjab, which was impacted by the 2020-21 farmer agitation.”

Saini said, “The arrest of three farmer activists — Navdeep Singh Jalbera, Gurkirat Singh and Anish Khatkar — in March during the ‘Dilli Chalo’ agitation is the latest flashpoint for farmers’ protest in a few areas in Haryana. Their arrests had taken place ahead of condolence meetings held to pay tribute to Shubhkaran Singh in Jind and Ambala.”

Seeking the release of three farmer activists, farmers held a panchayat at the native village of Anish Khatkar in Jind on April 22. They blocked the Jind-Patiala national highway for nearly an hour. According to farmer leaders, following their protest, the authorities arranged their meeting with Anish in Jind jail where he was on a hunger strike for the past 35 days.

Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini, in an interview with The Indian Express earlier this month, had stated, “Despite propaganda by the Opposition, the farmers know the government has taken many steps in their favour. Modi ji is concerned about the farmer. The Opposition has been spreading disinformation. They said the MSP would go, but the farmers are still getting it.”

“Manohar Lal ji (Khattar) introduced the Bhawantar Scheme for vegetable growers, besides MSP on 14 crops. Ask our neighbouring states what they have done for their farmers other than inciting agitations,” Saini said.

However, farmer leaders said they are only questioning BJP and JJP candidates about why they were stopped from going to Delhi and why a legal guarantee for MSP on crops was not given as was promised. They even invited the BJP leaders for an open debate in Chandigarh on April 23. They kept five chairs empty for BJP leaders with their photos. Later, farmer leaders Jagjit Singh Dallewal, Sarwan Singh Pandher and Abhimanyu Kohar held a press conference and shared the figures on the expected expenditure on the purchase of all crops on the MSP.

A farmer leader from Jind, Azad Singh Palwa said, “Farmers are protesting because the BJP did not fulfil promises made to them in 2020-21. Farmers are still struggling to get MSP on their crops. Besides, adequate action was not taken against the guilty of the Lakhimpur Kheri incident.”

Explaining reasons behind the protests against JJP leaders, Palwa said, “The BJP government in Haryana survived because of the JJP’s support in 2020-21 when the farmers were battling against the three farm laws.”
However, JJP spokesperson Deepkamal Saharan claimed that “outsiders” were involved in the protests against Dushyant in three Hisar villages.

On Thursday, a group of farmers questioned BJP Rohtak Lok Sabha candidate Arvind Sharma on the MSP on their crops when he went to Sisroli village in Rohtak district.

Sharma said, “Haryana is the only state in the country which is offering MSP on 14 crops.”

As the tension between the protesters and his supporters mounted, Sharma left the venue and a scuffle between both parties ensued.

In Sisroli village, as BKU leader Monika Nain asked questions to the BJP candidate, a scuffle ensued between protesting farmers and BJP workers.

BJP leader Krishan Murti Hooda blamed former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s supporters for the protests, claiming, “This will harm Congress candidates, not the BJP.”

Haryana Congress media in-charge Chandvir Singh Hooda said that his party has nothing to do with the protests, and urged the protesting farmers to teach the BJP a lesson by casting votes against its candidates instead of staging protests against them at this stage.