Farmers Movement Archive

‘SAD breaking ties with BJP will not affect us’

The BJP leaders find themselves caught amid a turmoil after the passing of the farm laws and farmers’ protests. The BJP state vice-president, Parveen Bansal, who is from the city, claims that the party is strong enough to come out of this situation. At the moment the party is creating a stronghold at the grassroots level and is likely to fight assembly elections without help of any alliance in Punjab. Here are a few excerpts from conversation between him and TOI correspondent Nidhi Bhardwaj. Do you feel BJP leaders failed in making the farmers understand three farm laws approved by the Union government? It is not that we failed in reaching out to the farmers in making them understand these farm laws, rather all these protests are taking place because the Congress government has created confusion in the minds of farmers. These farm laws are for the benefit of farmers because for the past so many years the farmers, who are the backbone of our economy, have been unable to come out of poverty. These ordinances will give financial stability and security to these farmers and they will get a stage where they can sell their crop anywhere in India. How the BJP will be able to come out of this situation when its alliance with Shiromani Akali Dal has also come to an end?We are trying to convince the farmers and their organisation heads through various means. Recently, a meeting also took place in Delhi over this issue and our Punjab team also attended that meeting, so in the coming days we will be able to come out with more ideas to reach out to the farmers. As far as Akali Dal is concerned, they have certain political bindings as they have a vote bank in rural Punjab and when farmers came out on roads they were forced to take this step and break ties with the BJP. But it will not create any difference to us and we are hopeful of performing better. Don’t you think BJP leaders in Punjab will have to pay for these farm laws approved by the central government?When decisions are taken for larger interests, certain difficulties are certain. Our leaders in Punjab are facing issues in reaching out to farmers as at certain locations farmers protested against BJP leaders and our state president was also attacked. We are fighting for the welfare of the farmer community and we are ready to face any kind of hardships. These protests and hurdles in our path are being created by the Congress government because they want to continue with these protests. As long as people’s mind will remain diverted to farmers issues they will not ask chief minister Amarinder Singh about employment, power prices, pension and most important development. The Congress is trying to use this situation for its benefits in the 2022 elections. Do you feel that BJP can contest the assembly elections on all seats, especially in Ludhiana, where in 2017, it had lost all three seats? Political scenario in Punjab keeps on changing with every day, so it is very early to say anything at the moment. As far as last results are concerned, the situation was quite different and we lost due to certain factors. This time, we will fight on all seats and we are certain people will give us a chance to serve them. At the moment we are concentrating on building a strong base among voters, so we are strengthening our organisational structure. We are boosting the morale of our booth-level workers and side by side we are trying to convince the farmers that the BJP government is thinking about their welfare. What are the future plans of the party for Ludhiana or the entire state in the coming days?First of all, we are concentrating on fighting this situation and when farmer protests will end the situation will become normal. As far as Ludhiana is concerned, the city has lost almost three years since the Congress government took over. In the name of development not even a simple patch work has been done properly. No major projects came for the city except for the smart city projects, which are being funded by the central government. The Congress leaders have failed miserably in providing facilities to the public and it is actually unfortunate for this city. Our concentration would be more on development works for the city and then growth of industry will be in focus. In the past a favourable environment was not created for the growth and development of industry and Ludhiana being hub of industry, needs special attention.

The Times of India

2020-11-02

Ludhiana