Farmers train guns on BJP after police action near Chandigarh

Bathinda: Farmers have threatened to take on the BJP following Friday's police action by the Chandigarh Police to prevent them from marching to the Lok Bhavan to submit a memorandum of their demands to Punjab governor Gulab Chand Kataria."The BJP is in the firing line. We will decide on the action to be taken against the party in a meeting on May 21," announced senior farmer leader Balbir Singh Rajewal. Joginder Singh Ugrahan, another top farmer leader, said they know how to deal with the BJP and other parties, declaring that they would not take the path of submitting memorandums anymore. Chandigarh Police used tear gas and water cannons to disperse the protesting farmers as they tried to march to the Lok Bhavan. The farmers are demanding a legal guarantee for MSP, resolution of the river water dispute, and repeal of certain provisions of the Punjab Reorganisation Act. Relations between farmers and the BJP have been strained since the farm laws were announced in 2020. Farm groups had campaigned against the party in West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Punjab ahead of the elections in 2021. After the 2022 assembly elections in Punjab, farmers somewhat softened their stand though they continued to hold protests, mainly for the core demand of minimum support price (MSP) on all crops according to the C2+50% formula. A senior farmer leader said as the BJP did not have much stake in the state back then, the political fallout was not drastic. "Now when the party is eyeing power in Punjab, the decision of the farming community, a major electoral chunk in the state, to oppose the party does not bode well for it," he added. A senior Punjab BJP functioary said the party would defuse the situation but maintained that no other govt has worked for farmers more than the central govt led by the BJP. MSID:: 131115305 413 |