kropotkindersurprise:

Protesting Indian farmers are harassing BJP and JJP politicians all over India by blocking them from campaigning and protesting at their homes and offices.

Its seven days to the Punjab civic polls, and senior BJP Jalandhar leader Ramesh Sharma is in a quandary. “They follow us everywhere,” he says.

In 2015, the then ruling Akali-Dal BJP combine had swept the civic polls, with the BJP outperforming its senior partner. This time, the BJP has not been able to find candidates for two-thirds of the seats, nor to campaign in the rest. As the protesters at Delhi’s borders press on, Punjab BJP leaders are nervously watching the “pakka dharnas” outside homes of more than 30 of them — unceasing for four months, continuing day and night, drawing people from up to 40 km away, organised by farm unions, under tents that can hold 200 people. The banners at the sites demand that the “black” farm laws be repealed, ask why farmers are being called terrorists, and exhort: ‘Aao saare Dilli chaliye (Let’s all go to Delhi)’.

The BJP has hardly stirred out for campaigning, for fear of protesters surrounding their venues. Many BJP leaders have quit — over 20 of them in January alone — including the only Sikh face in the party’s core committee in the state, Malwinder Singh Kang. Partymen have removed the BJP flag from their vehicles, and check farmers’ protest plans before leaving homes, says a senior BJP leader.

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In Rampura Phul area of Bathinda, a pakka dharna outside the factory of Makhan Jindal, a BJP state executive committee member, on since mid-October, was lifted on January 10 only after Jindal resigned from the party. 

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At several places, BJP candidates are not contesting on party symbol, [but instead as independents]”. Among the BJP leaders contesting as an Independent is Bathinda BJP chief Vinod Binta. He says he had no choice; “protesters are not allowing us to hold election meetings”. Careful not to provoke the farmers, he adds, “They have all the right to protest but they are getting too personal.”

Protesters have also vented anger on the Akali Dal, with slogans forcing its chief Sukhbir Badal to abandon a speech on farm laws at the Fatehgarh Sahib gurdwara on December 28. He had to be escorted out via the back gate. Mystery surrounds the February 3 attack on Sukhbir’s vehicle in his constituency Fazilka, while he was accompanying a party candidate for filing of nomination for the civic polls. 

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It’s not just the ruling BJP that has been hemmed in. In a worse situation is its partner JJP and Deputy CM Dushyant Chautala. The farmers have announced they won’t allow any public meetings of BJP-JJP leaders.

The CM has had his Kaimla venue vandalised and his cavalcade forced back with black flags in Ambala; Chautala has had a temporary helipad in his constituency Jind uprooted to thwart his arrival; minister Kamlesh Dhanda has had her cavalcade chased in Kaithal; the BJP has had to cancel training sessions and a protest on the Satlej-Yamuna Link issue in Fatehabad as farmers called it a bid to divide them along Punjab and Haryana lines. Outside many villages, boards bar entry of BJP and JJP leaders.Says Raj Kumar, a farmer from Jind district, “BJP, JJP leaders can come out only if they hide their identity, wearing masks.”

Protesting farmers dig up a helipad in Jind so JJP politician Dushyant Chautala can’t land and campaign in the area.