BJP confident farmers' protests won’t dent vote bank in UP, Punjab

BJP leaders also indicate there will not be any tangible government outreach to the farmers’ unions in the coming days.
Farmers stage a protest at Tikri border during their agitation against Centre's new farm laws. (File Photo | PTI)
Farmers stage a protest at Tikri border during their agitation against Centre's new farm laws. (File Photo | PTI)

NEW DELHI:  With the farmers’ agitation intensifying, BJP continues to argue that the campaign is politically motivated.

The party says there will be not much of an impact of the agitations on upcoming elections in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab.

BJP leaders also indicate there will not be any tangible government outreach to the farmers’ unions in the coming days.

“There are multiple factors at play in times of elections. The issues being raised by the farmers’ unions will be there. There will also be others issues which will influence the choices of the people in the polls. The farmers are also happily accepting the PM Kisan Nidhi installments of Rs 2,000 each, besides other benefits,” said a BJP national general secretary.

BJP leaders have sought to brand the agitation of the farmers politically motivated, even while the government in the initial phases had engaged them with multiple rounds of discussions on the three laws enacted last year.

“In Punjab, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) needs to worry about the impact of the agitations by the farmers’ unions. Congress will also have to check the impact on their prospects due to the agitation since the leaders of the unions mostly have Left leanings,” said another BJP national general secretary.

However, BJP is watching out for the electoral fallout of the agitations in western UP. Farmer unions held a mahapanchayat in Muzzaffarnagar recently.

While BJP’s rivals appear to be drawing the conclusion that Muslims and Jats in western UP will bury the ghosts of the riots of 2013 and come together as a collective vote bank in next year’s elections, BJP is hoping “other factors” will outweigh the impact of the agitations.

“In times of elections, electoral trends show that farmers don’t merely vote on issues concerning agriculture. BJP will seek to come out with a larger narrative to overwhelm the immediate challenges posed by the farmers’ unions,” said a senior BJP functionary.

Incidentally, BJP had been a beneficiary of the Jat consolidation in favour of the party in elections since 2014, with the saffron outfit even blanking out Rashtriya Lok Dal, which had failed to open its account in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

The protesting farmers should point out the shortcomings in the new farm laws so that the government can rectify them, Union minister Bhanu Pratap Verma said Tuesday, alleging they were tutored into the agitation by Opposition parties.

His statement came on a day a large number of farmers squatted at the gates of the district headquarters in Haryana's Karnal, locked in a showdown with the state's BJP-led government over a police lathicharge last month.

The farmers have been protesting against the three farm laws at Delhi border points for close to 10 months now.

"Instead of being misguided by Opposition parties, the farmers should point out the shortcomings in the farm laws so that they may be rectified," the Minister of State for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises told reporters in Vrindavan.

He said farm laws were enacted to address the need of the people and not to benefit the BJP.

These laws try to address the issues of farmers who earlier complained they were not allowed to sell their produce in the markets of their choice so that they could get maximum benefit.

He said the protesting farmers are unaware of the details of the farm laws and agitating since they have been tutored by Opposition parties.

He asked the Congress as to why it had not given the facility to farmers to sell their produce anywhere in the country.

Since elections are approaching, these parties are "misguiding" the farmers to accrue political mileage, he alleged.

The minister also disclosed the plan of making bio-paint from cow dung.

He said the government would provide assistance including training to people who want to opt this trade.

Justifying the enactment of the Citizenship Amendment Act, the minister said had minorities in Pakistan and Bangladesh not been treated like second-rate citizens there, the new law would not have been formulated.

In that case, the minorities in those countries would have been living there peacefully as minorities in India are, he concluded.

Haryana's Agriculture Minister J P Dalal on Tuesday accused BKU leader Gurnam Singh Chaduni of being an 'arhtiya' harbouring political ambitions and acting at the behest of the Congress.

Dalal said the government has repeatedly made it clear that it is not against farmers and has, in fact, taken several initiatives for their welfare which no other government did.

Dalal, however, said it appears that farmers' union leaders want to make Haryana the epicentre of protests and create the same situation which was seen during previous regimes in the state when farmers had to face bullets.

"Chaduni is an arhtiya (commission agent) who claims to be a farmers' leader. He harbours political ambition and has even tried his hand at the electoral politics earlier," Dalal told reporters during an interaction.

"It appears Chaduni has taken a 'supari' (contract) from the Congress to compel Haryana government and the administration on the pretext of being a farmer leader and create the same situation as witnessed during previous regimes," said Dalal.

"Our government, however, has issued clear instructions not to allow the creation of any situation of confrontation with farmers," he said.

Dalal said he read Chaduni's statement today itself that if farmers would be stopped during their protest in Karnal they will break police barricades.

"Is this the language of a peaceful protest?" Dalal asked.

"They want to instigate farmers to serve their political ends. They act at the behest of Congress and they have nothing to do with farmers welfare," Dalal alleged.

Asked to comment on the Samyukt Kisan Morcha's demand for lodging a murder case against an IAS officer over his alleged "break heads" remark during a farmers' protest in Karnal on August 28, Dalal said, "The words used by the then SDM was condemned by Chief Minister M L Khattar and our other party leaders. I also did not support the use of such words by the officer."

Replying to a question on the SKM calling for opposing public functions of BJP leaders, he said, "Whenever they feel they give a call for road blockade, capture toll plazas, oppose our meetings and even attack our vehicles."

Farmers from Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh have been protesting for months over the three farm laws enacted at the Centre, claiming that the legislation will lead to the erosion of the minimum support price (MSP) system.

(With PTI Inputs)

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