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Journalism of Courage
The “Dilli Chalo” movement by farmers in February to seek a legal guarantee for minimum support price (MSP) may have been cut short at the Shambhu border between Punjab and Haryana where protesters continue to camp, but its repercussions are being felt by BJP leaders in the two poll-bound states.
Furious farmers are preventing party candidates from entering villages in Punjab, where elections are scheduled for June 1 while similar incidents are also occurring in the rural parts of neighbouring Haryana.
After his party leaders were booed and greeted with black flags as they attempted to enter villages, especially in the Malwa and Majha belts of Punjab, state BJP chief Sunil Jakhar on May 6 lodged a complaint with Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) C Sibin alleging that the Bhagwant Mann-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government had failed to ensure the right to campaign.
On Thursday, a farmer delegation led by Balbir Singh Rajewal visited the CEO’s office to lodge a complaint about the alleged high-handedness of politicians and security forces towards farmers who are raising questions during the campaign. The CEO, in response, urged the farmers not to obstruct a candidate’s right to campaign and said, “Such actions go against the directions and guidelines of the Election Commission (EC).”
In Haryana, last week, angry farmers attempted to disrupt the rally of BJP’s Sonipat candidate Mohan Lal Badoli, prompting intervention by the police. Other BJP candidates like Ashok Tanwar (Sirsa), Ranjit Chautala (Hisar), Arvind Sharma (Rohtak), and former chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar (Karnal) routinely face black flags and slogans from farmers. Last month, an irritated Khattar remarked that the protests would only increase support for the BJP.
However, Khattar’s views did not resonate among the three Independent MLAs –Dharampal Gondher (Nilokheri), Randhir Golan (Pundri) and Sombir Sangwan (Dadri)—who switched allegiance from the BJP to the Congress citing concern for farmers and their unmet demands. Their switch triggered a crisis for the Nayab Singh Saini government with former ally Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) of Dushyant Chautala demanding a floor test.
Posters calling for the boycott of the BJP began to appear in villages of Malwa in late March. However, since the present agitation is led by a splinter group of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha, which spearheaded the 2020 farm agitation, no one anticipated it would acquire such ferocity.
Amritsar BJP candidate and former diplomat Taranjit Singh Sandhu had his first taste of farmer ire when he was shown black flags in the Ajnala countryside on April 6. Hans Raj Hans, the popular Sufi singer and sitting MP from North West Delhi, who is now contesting from Faridkot, a largely rural constituency, jokes that he feels like changing his name to Minnat Raj Minnat (the pleading Hans). “I am forever pleading with my rural brethren with folded hands,” he says and continues to visit villages even as he is almost always turned back with a volley of questions.
Ravneet Singh Bittu, sitting Congress MP from Ludhiana, who is now contesting from the same seat on a BJP ticket, live-streamed his frustration at this blockade while reminding farmers that he had slept on the ground in the freezing cold at Jantar Mantar for months to express solidarity with them during the farm agitation.
The BJP’s urban base made it a perfect ally for the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), which is seen to have a rural footing across the state. But since their break up over the now-repealed farm laws in 2020, the BJP can ill-afford to ignore the rural belt.
According to the 2011 Census, 67.4% of the state’s population lives in villages while only 37.5% is concentrated in cities. Though the urban population has seen a significant increase in the last decade, rural voters continue to be a significant chunk of the electorate.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP, then in alliance with the Akalis, had bagged two of the 13 seats and a 9.7% vote share. In the 2022 Assembly polls after the farm agitation and its split, it won two of the 117 seats, with its vote share sliding to 6.7%.
The party had hoped for an easier landing in the countryside this time, given Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s outreach to the Sikhs and the image makeover it has undergone in the last two years with a large number of Congressmen joining its fold. It also has no dearth of pro-farmer faces like former CM Captain Amarinder Singh, who staunchly supported the farmers in 2020.
However, the ongoing agitation seems to be casting a long shadow. Last week, farmers laid siege to the Moti Bagh Palace residence of Amarinder after a protester was killed in the melee that ensued during a poll event of his wife and BJP candidate from Patiala, Preneet Kaur.
Farmers aligned with the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (non-political) and Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM) have been camping at the Shambhu border since mid-February, when they were halted from proceeding to the national capital by the Haryana Police, which heavily barricaded the area. For several days, the border became a highly televised war zone, with protesters clashing with the Haryana Police, who fired pellets and used drones to drop tear gas shells. One young farmer was killed during the standoff. The protesting unions claim that 20 farmers have lost their lives in the agitation so far.
Since April 17, farmers have been blocking the tracks at the Shambhu railway station, demanding the release of three farm activists arrested by the Haryana Police. This has resulted in the short termination or diversion of almost 100 trains a day.
As a result, unlike in the past when the agitating farmers enjoyed blanket support in Punjab’s urban areas as well, the business community is upset with the blockade of road and rail movement at Shambhu, which is affecting the transportation of goods. Industrialists in Ludhiana have even threatened to hold a counter protest.
BJP leaders see the state government’s involvement in the protests. “Why are farmers being allowed to hold rallies despite the imposition of Section 144?” asked a BJP candidate from Malwa who did not want to be named.
Last Thursday, the CEO issued a circular directing deputy commissioners and police officers to ensure that candidates are protected and have a level playing field.
Over the weekend, the Punjab police arrested Kirti Kisan Union (KKU) general secretary Rajinder Singh Deep Singh Wala and BKU Dakaunda (Dhaner) general secretary Harnek Singh Mehma for disrupting the poll campaigns of BJP candidates Hans and Rana Gurmeet Sodhi.
The move is likely to infuriate farmers further, with villagers burning the effigies of Modi and Mann at several places.
