GHAZIABAD: BJP workers and farm law protesters clashed in Ghazipur on the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border on Wednesday.
The ruckus took place when the BJP workers were carrying out a procession on a flyway where the farm law protesters, chiefly supporters of the Bharatiya Kisan Union, have been camping since November 2020, according to eye-witnesses.
They said that as the two sides came near each other on the Delhi-Meerut Expressway around 12 pm, a scuffle broke out and they fought with sticks which led to some injuries. Videos and pictures surfaced on social media, purportedly showing some damaged vehicles which were part of a cavalcade of a BJP politician, Amit Valmiki, for whose welcome the procession was being held.
Farmer leaders, however, alleged that the episode was another "conspiracy by the government" to quell the protest against the three contentious farm laws and give it a bad name.
Samyukta Kisan Morcha spokesperson Jagtar Singh Bajwa claimed that the farmers at the Ghazipur border informed the district administration and government officials to remove the party workers as they were creating a ruckus in the name of a welcome rally.
"They misbehaved with farmers and themselves damaged their vehicles as part of a conspiracy. This conspiracy of the government is not going to succeed because such tactics to end the farmers' protest have been used in the past too. We are going to lodge a complaint with the police over today's (Wednesday's) incident, and if no action is taken, we shall plan our future strategy accordingly," Bajwa said.
"We condemn the ruckus created by the BJP workers," Bajwa said, adding that such tactics won't work as the farmers' movement has been going on peacefully for the last seven months and will continue to do so in the future.