Angry Protesters Force PM Modi to Go Back from Punjab
Modi failed to hoodwink the genuine farm unions which assert that they will never forget Modi’s despotic actions against them.
By Rakesh Raman
A number of protesters today (January 5) did not allow prime minister (PM) Narendra Modi to attend a scheduled event in Punjab and forced him to go back to Delhi.
After getting stuck for about 20 minutes on the road blocked by farm protesters, Modi had to rush back to Delhi without attending his rally in Ferozepur. Groups of farmers were seen shouting slogans against Modi and a hashtag #GoBackModi trended on Twitter.
Different groups of farmers in Punjab are feeling cheated by Modi who had asked them to end their year-long agitation on the outskirts of Delhi without accepting their major demands. Farmers also claim that over 700 of their fellow protesters died on the protest sites because of Modi’s arrogance.
A large group of farmers – mainly from Punjab, Haryana, and U.P. states – protested around Delhi for almost a year from November 2020 to get 3 contentious farm laws imposed by Modi repealed, among a slew of other demands.
While farmers – along with their families – were protesting in harsh weather conditions, Modi kept ignoring their presence. After a year, in December 2021, Modi – like a dictator – announced his diktat on TV to cancel the laws without talking to the farm leaders. He did not accept any of the other demands of farmers.
As Modi is a cunning man, he took the abrupt decision to cancel his farm laws in view of the upcoming Punjab Assembly election. Farmers in Punjab were not allowing the members of Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to hold election campaigns in the state.
The BJP leaders were not allowed to enter Punjab villages because of Modi’s reluctance to accept farmers’ demands. Since Modi is fond of making his repulsive election speeches in front of the hired crowds and farmers were not allowing BJP leaders to enter Punjab, Modi took the impulsive decision to withdraw the laws so that he could enter Punjab.
It is believed that a few farm leaders secretly conspired with the Modi government to persuade farmers to end their agitation without the acceptance of their demands. After ending the agitation midway, these crooked farm leaders – who were earlier opposing the politicians – formed their own political party to contest the Punjab election.
However, Modi failed to hoodwink the genuine farm unions which assert that they will never forget Modi’s despotic actions against them. A large number of farmers – led by Sanyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) – are still opposing Modi and have decided to relaunch their protests against the Modi government after their meeting on January 15.
Modi’s BJP is among the parties that will contest the Punjab Assembly election expected to take place in the next couple of months. The other main political groups operating in Punjab are: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Congress, and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD).
By Rakesh Raman, who is a national award-winning journalist and social activist. He is the founder of a humanitarian organization RMN Foundation which is working in diverse areas to help the disadvantaged and distressed people in the society.
