In Haryana, BJP leaders continue to face farmers’ wrath: this time it’s former CM

According to Aulakh, the farmers were also upset over the non-payment of compensation to them (farmers) for their crops that were damaged when hailstorm hit at least 25 villages nearly two months ago.

Former Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar. (Express Archives)

With the political climate heating up and the election date drawing near, the angry farmers too have upped the ante against the BJP whose leaders and candidates are still facing protests from the farmers in Haryana, which goes to the parliamentary polls on May 25.

The farmers have been agitating against their unmet demands for quite some time, and their anger has mostly been directed at the BJP, which rules both at the Centre and in Haryana. Former Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar, who is the BJP candidate from Karnal parliamentary seat, was at the receiving end of the farmers’ ire on Tuesday. He faced protests in at least five places in the constituency during the poll campaign. BKU (Sir Chhotu Ram) president Jagdeep Singh Aulakh said: “The farmers wanted to ask questions from Khattar in connection with the injustice meted out to them during the past nearly five years. When police did not allow them to meet him (former CM), the farmers staged protests and showed him black flags.”

According to Aulakh, the farmers were also upset over the non-payment of compensation to them (farmers) for their crops that were damaged when hailstorm hit at least 25 villages nearly two months ago.

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On the other hand, Khattar blamed the Opposition Congress for the protests stating that the grand old party is in a state of disarray. Except for one or two incidents, Khattar said, there was good response from the masses during his public contact programme.

“It’s also true that there are some with vested interests. They have their own hidden agenda. I faced them. It may not be ideal for a democracy. But, it’s a battle of ideologies in a democracy in which everyone has the right to express his point of view,” Khattar said.

Among other demands, farmers have been seeking implementation of a legal guarantee for a minimum support price (MSP) for their agricultural produce; justice for Shubhkaran Singh, a young farmer from Bathinda, who died on February 21 in clashes between the farmers and police near the Khanauri border separating Punjab and Haryana during the ‘Dilli Chalo’ protest; and release of arrested farmers during protests.

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