CHANDIGARH: It is not just Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders facing the wrath and anger of farmers across Punjab; now Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders are also on the receiving end.
They are facing rising public ire over unfulfilled promises, unanswered queries, and ‘arrogant’ behaviour. Farmers are posing questions to the leaders, even going so far as to term AAP the “B-team of BJP.”
Now, student groups and teachers’ associations have also joined in protesting against the ruling party leaders.
Yesterday, AAP MLA from Rampura Phul, Balkar Sidhu, and another ruling party legislator from Maur, Sukhbir Singh Maiserkhana, had to face backlash from farmers during their visits to inaugurate development projects.
Sidhu had gone to Sidhana village in Rampura to inaugurate an event under the ‘Education Revolution’ initiative. As the news spread that the legislator was in the area, members of the Bhartiya Kisan Union (Krantikari Punjab) and BKU Ekta Ugrahan gathered in front of the school in the village.
As Sidhu arrived at the school under police protection, farmers began raising slogans regarding the atrocities committed at the Shambhu and Khanauri borders.
They also raised objections related to the Model School Chaoke case. After the programme ended, the MLA approached the farmers, and the farmer leaders asked him several questions.
Sidhu responded, saying he could only comment after speaking with Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann. Later, in Salebrah village, the MLA faced further protests.
Meanwhile, Sukhbir Singh Maiserkhana, another ruling party legislator from the Maur assembly segment, was confronted by members of the BKU (Ekta Ugrahan) during his visit to Ramgarh Bhundar village yesterday. Maiserkhana had earlier been confronted by BKU Sidhupur members while en route to an event under the ‘Sikhya Kranti’ programme.
In another incident, members of the Bhartiya Kisan Union (Ekta Sidhupur) posed several questions to Gidderbaha AAP MLA Hardeep Singh Dimpy Dhillon in Gurusar village on Monday. They described the AAP as the “BJP’s B-team.”
They asked him why the farmers were not allowed to protest at the Khanauri and Shambhu borders. In response, Dimpy said the state government might be under some pressure to lift the protests at the borders, as nothing had happened in the past year.
Talking with this newspaper, Prem Singh Bhangu, President of the All India Kisan Federation and senior leader of SKM Punjab, said that the AAP Punjab government is facing the wrath and anger of farmers in the villages daily whenever its MLAs and ministers visit the villages to inaugurate the repair work done in school buildings.
He stated that they are being dubbed as stooges of the BJP government at the Centre for taking repressive measures to crush and dislodge the peaceful protests of farmers at the Shambhu and Khanauri borders by using heavy force.
“The government also foiled the March 5 proposed morcha to be launched at Chandigarh by making more than 1,000 arrests of farmers in the state, stopping them from reaching Chandigarh, their own capital, by forcibly stopping them in Punjab. Moreover, the government is trying to create a divide between rural and urban people, and Jat versus non-Jat in the state in order to garner votes, which could cost it dearly in the coming assembly elections,” he said.
While some party leaders avoid meeting farmers, others have lost their cool when confronted with queries. Punjab Assembly Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan has been targeted many times.
On April 8, during a farmers’ training camp in Faridkot, Sandhwan was interrupted mid-speech when a farmer stood up and bluntly said that Sandhwan knew nothing about dairy farming. Sandhwan did not take offence.
The protestors gathered outside his house in Kotkapura. There was also a protest by the Punjab Students Union at Brajindra College in Faridkot.
On April 5, Punjab Agriculture Minister Gurmeet Singh Khudian faced a similar situation in Muktsar. Nirmal Singh from the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) Sidhupur interrupted him with questions about paddy varieties. The police immediately detained Singh, booking him under Sections 126 and 170 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS). He was sent to jail and then released after four days upon furnishing bail.
Also, AAP MLA Labh Singh Ugoke was grilled by farmers demanding an inquiry into the “missing trolleys.” Ugoke responded that the government had many other responsibilities.
Last week, Batyala MLA Amansher Singh, alias Sherry Kalsi, was surrounded by farmers. Initially, he remained calm and talked to the farmers, but when they shouted slogans, he also reportedly shouted “AAP zindabad” to counter them.
Other MLAs, including Gurdev Singh Dev Mann in Nabha, Gurdit Singh Sekhon in Faridkot, Dalbir Singh Tong in Baba Bakala, and Aresh Kataria in Zira, have faced similar confrontations.
Sarwan Singh Pandher, coordinator of Kisan Mazdoor Morcha, said that in 2020 and 2022, BJP leaders were questioned by farmers. Now, it is the turn of the AAP leadership. He further said that farmers had planned to question Mann and AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal in Amritsar on April 9 but were not allowed to do so.
A few days ago, the villagers of Chauke village in Bathinda decided to ban the entry of AAP leaders in response to the police crackdown on a teachers' protest outside Adarsh School on March 27, where police lathi-charged women protestors.
Villagers from several villages in Lambi constituency, from where Punjab Agriculture Minister Gurmeet Singh Khudian is the MLA, have also announced plans to boycott AAP leaders. Additionally, the villagers of Kotla Jattan and Beer Bhamarasi villages in Fatehgarh Sahib and Babarpur Patiala have also banned the leaders of the ruling party from entering their villages.
Kaka Singh Kolta, General Secretary of BKU (Sidhupur), said that this is just the start and soon they will not be able to step out of their houses.