6 min readChandigarhSep 17, 2024 09:41 AM IST
First published on: Sep 17, 2024 at 07:19 AM IST
Aiming for a hat-trick in Haryana, the BJP hit a major bump in the past few weeks as many leaders who lost out on tickets rebelled. Now, several of the party’s prominent candidates and campaigners are facing people’s anger in their constituencies, including some that are considered the party’s stronghold. The protests have also singed the leaders of the BJP’s former ally Jannayak Janta Party (JJP).
From the firing on a farmer at the Khanauri border with Punjab to the post-poll alliance between the BJP and the JJP in 2019, the leaders of the two parties have faced protests over several issues. While the BJP accused the Opposition of instigating people and using the videos of such “protests” to score political points, the Congress said, “It is a democracy.”
One of the constituencies is Adampur in Hisar district that the family of former Chief Minister Bhajan Lal has not lost since 1972. Be it Lal himself, his wife Jasma Devi, son Kuldeep Bishnoi, and now grandson Bhavya, the family has won this seat 11 times in a row. However, this time, the party is facing some resistance on the ground. On Monday, Kuldeep and Bhavya Bishnoi faced protests in the village of Kutiawali, with a heated argument leading to a scuffle between the villagers and the supporters of the BJP leaders. As the situation threatened to escalate even further, the district police stepped in and the BJP leaders were escorted out of the village.
However, Kuldeep Bishnoi denied there was opposition from the villagers. “A few of our opponents were sitting in the crowd where we went to campaign,” he told The Indian Express. “I knew they were from the rival camp but I still went to them and asked them about how long they would keep protesting. I told them about the development works that we have implemented in their village and across Adampur. But, apparently, somebody was drunk and started misbehaving. The videos were shot by some people and that is why it was made to appear as if there was opposition. Entire Adampur is like our family, our campaign is going very well.”
One of the BJP leader’s close aides said, “Kuldeep and Bhavya Bishnoi were interacting with the people but a few of the youngsters in the crowd were drunk. They were instigated by the Opposition to misbehave. To avoid any further escalation, we came out of the village.”
In Ambala district’s Naraingarh seat, which Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini won in 2014, BJP candidate Pawan Saini faced protests from villagers. He was not allowed to enter the main part of Naraingarh and his convoy was forced to return after local farmer organisations gathered and blocked his cavalcade. They waved black flags and raised anti-BJP slogans, forcing him to take a detour to other areas.
The BJP’s candidate in Badkhal in Faridabad district, Dhanesh Adlakha, was on his way to the village of Navada around Monday noon when his convoy was blocked on the stretch between Dabua and Navada. An agitated group of protesters asked the candidate to step out of the car and walk on the road that was full of potholes and filled with mud after the recent rains. The protesters then forced Adlakha to take a U-turn.
These are not the only protests that the BJP leaders have faced. On Sunday evening, six-time BJP MLA Anil Vij had to leave a public meeting midway after a group of farmers from the Bharatiya Kisan Union (Bhagat Singh faction) raised slogans against him and the party in the village of Shahpur in Ambala Cantonment. They questioned him about the death of farmer Shubhkaran Singh, a 22-year-old from Bathinda, who was shot dead in Khanauri in February during the farmers’ agitation. Vij’s supporters also got into a heated argument with the farmers and as the situation escalated, the former state minister returned to his car and his convoy moved out of the village.
In Jind, former BJP minister Krishan Bedi, who is contesting from Narwana, got involved in a heated argument with villagers in Bhivkhewala who questioned him about his “silence” during the 2020-21 farmers’ agitation. The villagers told Bedi that the BJP would have to meet its fate for “disrespecting farmers”.
In Hansi in Hisar district, BJP’s candidate Vinod Bhayana lost his cool at villagers protesting against him. The villagers also questioned him about the killing of Shubhkaran and accused him of being part of an “anti-farmer” party. “If you don’t want to vote, do not, but do not misbehave,” a visibly irritated Bhayana retorted.
“It is a political gimmick by the Opposition. They make a bunch of people stand in the crowd who start misbehaving with our leaders, shoot the video and then make it viral on social media. On the ground, people are with the BJP and we are definitely going to form the government,” a BJP leader said.
Former Deputy CM and JJP leader Dushyant Chautala faced protests on Sunday in Chhatar village in his constituency Uchana Kalan. The mob waved black flags at Dushyant’s convoy and then surrounded his vehicle. They asked him why he joined hands with the BJP after they voted for him in 2019. The villagers claimed there was a social boycott on Dushyant and he would not be allowed entry into the village again.
In Hisar, people in the villages of Kundlu and Prabhuwala targeted BJP leader Anoop Dhanak, a JJP rebel now the BJP’s candidate from Uklana, on Saturday evening. Earlier, Dhanak faced protests in the villages of Kandul, Khairi, Kinala, Chhan, and Shyamsukh.
Asked about these protests, Leader of the Opposition Bhupinder Singh Hooda said, “It is a democracy. The protests are the result of their (BJP and JJP) non-performance.”
BJP leaders Kuldeep and Bhavya Bishnoi with a group of villagers in their constituency Adampur on Monday. (Express Photo)
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