“First, they allowed highways to be blocked. Later, they rushed to get them cleared,” said Punjab BJP president Sunil Jakhar about the Bhagwant Mann-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government’s decision on March 19 to clear the farmer protest sites at the Shambhu and Khanauri borders. Jakhar claimed that it was the Mann government who encouraged farmers to sit on a dharna in the first place and that the same administration was now “trying to take credit for clearing the sites to gain votes ahead of the forthcoming Ludhiana West bypoll”. Jakhar’s reaction indicated that the BJP, which bore the brunt of the farm protests and their ire, was now looking to reframe the issue. “Earlier, the farmers agitated against the BJP at the Centre and against Union ministers. Now, we will reframe it. The farmers are feeling humiliated. They must have realised that the ruling AAP government followed a use and throw policy for them," a senior BJP leader said on condition of anonymity. The BJP leader said the party-led central government is “eager” to resolve the issues of the farmers, pointing out that the next round of talks between the farm union leaders and the Centre was scheduled for May 4. “We are committed to addressing their demands. With the Punjab government taking this action (of clearing the protest sites), the BJP now has an entirely new direction to work in Punjab," he added. The Mann government’s action seems to have come as a shot in the arm to the state BJP down to the grassroots level. "Within 15 days, the entire equation in Punjab has changed. It is now farmers versus the Punjab government," a BJP leader from Patiala claimed. The BJP believes this narrative against the Mann government will help boost the morale of the party's rank and file which have been reeling under various setbacks for several years. Currently, the BJP has only 2 MLAs in the state. The party could not get a single Lok Sabha seat from the state in the 2024 polls even as it got a 18.5% vote share. It hopes that the farmer issue will help it prepare the ground for the Assembly polls slated for 2027. As it seeks to build a campaign against the Mann government, the BJP leadership is getting actively engaged in rural outreach programmes. Outlining the party's roadmap for reviving its organisation, BJP spokesperson Pritpal Singh Baliawal said: "We are helping people fill online applications for various welfare schemes such as the PM Awas Yojana (Rural), Ayushman Bharat Jan Arogya Yojana, and Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana. The BJP is working for the betterment of Punjab and Punjabis, and we will continue to do so.” On the other hand, the AAP government’s crackdown has caused anger among farm leaders. Tejveer Singh, spokesperson of the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM), accused the Punjab CM of acting on the “directions” of the BJP and RSS and termed the clearance of protest sites a "betrayal of farmers". Joginder Singh Ugrahan, president of Bhartiya Kisan Union (Ugrahan), had earlier said that Mann was now "speaking the language of the BJP". On its part, the AAP has defended its actions at Shambhu and Khanauri, calling them “necessary to revive the state’s economy suffering due to the highway blockade”. Sources said that AAP chief and former Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal’s meeting with industrialists in Ludhiana on March 17 prompted the Mann government to take action against farm agitators as industry leaders were blunt about their concerns over the highway closures. At the meeting, the traders had reportedly said they would not back the AAP in the Ludhiana West bypoll if the protest sites were not cleared. Farmer organisations KMM and Samyukta Kisan Morcha (non-political) had started the “Dilli Chalo” agitation in November 2023 to take their concerns to Delhi. On February 13 2024, they marched towards Delhi from the Shambhu and Khanauri borders. However, they were stopped by the Haryana police which installed barricades and fired tear gas on them. The farmers had been camping at the protest sites until their removal on March 19. The AAP government had appeared to be “sympathetic” to the farmers' concerns but faced severe heat from traders and the business community, who said they faced difficulties over transporting their goods, among other things. With the farmer protests continuing for about 400 days, Punjab finance minister Harpal Singh Cheema and other ministers asked the farmers to shift their agitation to Delhi.
