Farmers’ Protest: Posters Crop up in Some Punjab Villages Declaring ‘No Entry’ for BJP

New Delhi: As the Lok Sabha campaign starts heating up, posters by protesting farmers have cropped up in several villages of Punjab, announcing ‘no entry’ to BJP candidates.

“If you don’t let us enter Delhi, we will not let your leaders enter our villages,” reads one such poster, according to a Times of India report.

According to Indian Express, in Sangrur district, the posters by Bharatiya Kisan Union (Azad) also convey anger at the death of 19-year-old farmer Shubhkaran Singh, who died during the protest in Punjab-Haryana’s Shambhu border in February end, allegedly due to bullet injuries after firing by the Haryana Police.

In Bhatinda, farmers alleged that the BJP, if voted back to power, would bring back the three ‘black’ farm laws in a truncated form.

BKU (Ekta Ugrahan) leader Shingara Sing Mann told ToI that the union plans to oppose BJP candidates in Punjab, so that “when they lose, at least they will consider our objections before making such a policy.”

According to an IE report, a BJP Mahotsav in Bhatinda on March 24 saw a fierce farmers’ protest leading to the cancellation of an address by party president Sunil Jakhar, who recently switched from Congress to BJP. Jakhar’s office, however, denied this.

Similar posters were sighted in other villages, too, while several farmers organistions have been openly saying that they will not allow BJP candidates to enter their villages for election campaigns.

Meanwhile, as the Lok Sabha election campaign gathers pace, farmers are expecting more such protests across the state. One reason for this is the call by farmers’ collective, the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) to “Expose BJP, Oppose BJP, Punish BJP '' in the elections.

Darshan Pal, a top  SKM leader, told The Tribune that it was decided that all farmer unions would get in touch with other employee unions and trade unions so that they could jointly oppose BJP in the coming elections. This was also reflected in the massive Kisan-Mazdoor Mahapanchayat held in Delhi’s Ramlila Grounds recently.

“We are planning to organise Jan panchayats across the country, where we will seek people’s support against the BJP. In Punjab, the Jan panchayat will be held on May 21,” he told The Tribune.

Another top SKM leader Balbir Sing Rajewal said the BJP government at the Centre “owes answers on its bid to hand over the entire agriculture sector to corporates. We will exercise our democratic right to question and oppose the BJP for its anti-farmer policies.”

The decisions were taken after a SKM meeting held in Rohtak, Haryana on Sunday.

Addressing the media after the meeting, the SKM leaders said district-level meetings would be held across the country and campaigns would be launched to apprise people about the ‘misdeeds’ of the Union government.

“The BJP government had destroyed the social fabric of the nation by dividing people on the basis of caste, religion and region but SKM has decided to unite the people. The government institutions are being destroyed by the BJP and they are misusing government agencies to suppress every voice,” Inderjit Singh, another SKM leader from All India Kisan Sabha said.