Farmers hold protest, oppose events of BJP-JJP leaders in Haryana

Farmers protesting against the three agri laws on Monday held demonstrations at various places in Haryana and opposed events of BJP and JJP leaders, prompting Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala to say those averse to the unveiling of former deputy prime minister Devi Lal's statue cannot be peasants.

While Chautala was to unveil an 18-feet tall statue of Devi Lal at the Chaudhary Devi Lal University in Sirsa, BJP leader Babita Phogat, who was attending an event at Charkhi Dadri in connection with the International Yoga Day, also faced the protesting farmers' ire.

In Ambala, a group of farmers blocked a national highway, forcing Haryana education minister Kanwar Pal to skip a scheduled meeting in the city.

Talking to reporters after unveiling the statue of Devi Lal, Chautala asserted his great grandfather was a ''messiah'' for the agriculture community.

The Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) leader's remarks came after a group of farmers staged a protest when he was in the Sirsa city for the unveiling of the statue.

''If they oppose this, it shows they are not farmers. Chaudhary Devi Lal was a messiah of farmers,'' Chautala, whose party is part of the coalition government with the BJP in Haryana, told reporters after the event.

He said Devi Lal was an institution in himself, whose entire political life was devoted to the welfare of people, particularly the farming community.

Farmers opposing the Centre's three farm laws enacted last year have been protesting at public functions of BJP-JJP leaders in the state.

While police managed to keep the protesters away from the event site which was inside the varsity, a handful of them managed to enter the premises. However, they were stopped before they could reach the place where the statue, built using 300 tonnes of metal, was being unveiled.

Chautala reiterated that the farmers' agitation is not in the hands of farmers now.

''But it is now in the hands of those who have got a type of employment of holding protests. And employment of that type, where every morning they hold black flags in their hands to protest. But they do not know what they are opposing...,'' he said.

Last week, while speaking to reporters in Chandigarh, Chautala had said the ongoing farmer agitation is not any more about the demands of the peasantry, but how to oppose the government and the ruling BJP-JJP alliance in Haryana.

The Samyukta Kisan Morcha, an umbrella body of various farmers' unions, is spearheading the protest against the laws.

In Ambala, the education minister was supposed to chair a meeting at a panchayat bhawan located along the Ambala-Hisar national highway, which the farmers had blocked for a few hours, officials said.

The farmers gathered for their protest when Pal was scheduled to reach the venue to chair the district grievance committee's meeting. The minister skipped it following the demonstration by them, sources said.

Ambala president of farmers' union BKU, Malkeet Singh, said they will continue to protest the public programmes of the ruling BJP-JJP's leaders till the time the "black farm laws are rolled back".

In Charkhi Dadri, farmers protesting against the farm laws on Monday waved black flags when BJP leader Babita Phogat was attending an event here in connection with the International Yoga Day celebrations.

A group of farmers gathered after Phogat arrived to take part in the programme.

Outside the venue of the Janta College stadium, the farmers gathered for a while and raised slogans against the BJP-JJP government and demanded that the Centre rollback the "black farm laws".

Police had been deployed in strength to maintain security.

Last month too, the wrestler-turned-politician had faced protests by farmers in Charkhi Dadri when she had gone to address public meetings in a few villages.

Phogat had joined the BJP in 2019, but lost her first election. She was later appointed as chairperson of Haryana Women Development Corporation by the BJP-JJP government.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)