Malerkotla: Farmers’ organizations and the BJP trade jabs, catching the administration in the crossfire

As the government works to keep the peace in areas where candidates and their supporters are holding events linked to the Lok Sabha election during the current campaign, it has been the target of accusations from both the BJP and farmers’ groups.

The organizers are unwilling to accept protests or demonstrations by any organization near the events, despite the fact that organizations fighting for the rights of particular groups, such as trade unions, farmers’ groups, and farm laborers’ bodies, believe it is their right to interrupt political events.

Under the direction of SSP Simrat Kaur, the police administration said that they were dedicated to upholding peace and order in the district as a whole and at the locations of political gatherings conducted in compliance with the Election Commission of India’s rules.

Farmers, led by district president of Bhartiya Kisan Union (Ugrahan), Kulwinder Singh Bhudan, said that the police had violated their democratic right to peaceful protest against leaders of the BJP. They said that the state administration, which was functioning as the BJP’s “B team,” was ordering this to be done.

The Kisan Union leaders claimed that the police had used a lathi-charge on the farmers to prevent them from raising black flags and asking pertinent questions of BJP officials on Sunday, despite the fact that they were unable to support their claims with images or other proof.

During the lathi-charge, several of our activists had their turbans taken off, according to Bhudan. On Monday, BKU members set fire to an effigy of BJP state vice-president Arvind Khanna, which was located next to a BJP office.

However, BJP workers, under the leadership of district president Aman Thapar, said that police had been lenient with activists from other organizations who were publicly threatening BJP officials in an effort to prevent them from going into the villages. According to Thapar, the activists also attempted to sabotage the event, for which previous authorization had been obtained.

Malerkotla DSP Gurdev Singh refuted the accusations made by the BJP and Kisan Union leaders, stating that the police had put in place sufficient security measures to safeguard people and property during the events of different parties.

“It is documented that no protestor from any organization was permitted to reach any of the venues, and no lathi-charge was used to prevent Kisan Union activists from reaching the BJP function venue, as all election-related events are videotaped by designated government personnel,” Singh stated.