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Journalism of Courage
A leader of the farmer union, which had blocked the road leading to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s return, says had they known that the PM was actually taking this road, they would have reacted differently. “After all, he is our PM.”
Baldev Singh Zira, State General Secretary, Bhartiya Kisan Union Krantikari (Phul) said, “The Ferozepur SSP had come to inform us that the PM is taking this road but we thought he was fibbing in order to disperse us. We were there to stop BJP vehicles. Had we known that the PM was actually travelling on this route, our reaction would have been different. After all, he is our PM too.”
Zira said they were staging a dharna over the bridge at the drain near Piyaareana village on the Ludhiana-Ferozepur highway. “We had asked BJP vehicles to take an alternative route to the rally to avoid our dharna. We thought the PM was coming on a chopper, it was only later that we learnt from television news that the PM got stuck in a traffic jam and returned due to our dharna.”
Zira said their reaction to the administration may have been different had they known that the PM was actually taking this road. “At the end of the day, he is our Prime Minister. At the most, we may have sought two minutes with him on his way to Ferozepur.”
Zira alleged that there was a clash between BJP workers and protesting farmers at the dharna.
“We had requested drivers of buses and vehicles ferrying BJP workers to take an alternative route but one of their groups turned on us. Some of our men got injured in the clash,” he claimed.
BKU Krantikari is a Left-leaning farmer union, which was part of the Sanyukt Kisan Morcha during the farmers’ agitation. Surjit Phul, its president, was arrested under UAPA for his alleged Maoist links in 2009.
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