Farmers’ protests undercut the BJP’s ambitions to gain more support in Punjab

The continuing agricultural controversy seems to have negatively impacted the BJP’s intense attempts to expand its support base in the state after the Assembly elections in 2022, particularly in the wake of the passing of young Shubhkaran Singh.

Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), the BJP’s erstwhile coalition partner, was keen to extend their cooperation around two weeks ago, but they haven’t made any further attempts to start discussions on the matter. Simultaneously, farmers are staging dharnas outside the residences of BJP officials, intensifying the public’s ire against them.

In the 2022 Assembly elections, the BJP ran unopposed and won two seats with a 6.6% of the total votes cast. When the party ran with the SAD in the 2017 elections, they both received 30.4% of the vote, giving the SAD 15 seats and the BJP 3. When they ran independently in 2022, the BJP won two seats and the SAD three.

With the support of the RSS, traditional BJP officials believe that because the saffron party won 5.4% of the vote in the 2017 Assembly poll across the 23 seats it ran for, they had a good chance of winning the parliamentary elections, which would mostly be dominated by national concerns. Leaders of the party anticipated that with the opening of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, their support would certainly grow.

It seems it would take much more for the state voters to swing towards the BJP, even though state president Sunil Jakhar and former chief minister Capt. Amarinder Singh have made remarks in support of farmers and advocating for peaceful settlement of numerous problems via negotiations.

Some BJP officials expressed their optimism for a peaceful settlement to the present issue in an interview with The Tribune. All Punjabis have some connection to farming, either directly or indirectly. In urban and semi-urban regions, the BJP’s base of support consists of grain market traders. We sympathize with farmers and recognize their problems. They claim that although the excitement may hurt, a successful solution will quickly win them over.

There haven’t been any new negotiations with the BJP, according to SAD sources. Additionally, a lot of the earlier discussion—particularly on the seat distribution—was limited to the media. Every sacrifice would be made for farmers, which is why the SAD abandoned the BJP-led NDA government, according to a leader. He emphasized that the only other politician to quit from the Union Cabinet on problems pertaining to farmers was the Bathinda MP.