Farmers Movement Archive

Amid protests over farm laws, BJP seeks to build support base in rural Punjab

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) plans a rural outreach in Punjab as it has identified a lack of leadership and a weak cadre across the state’s villages as a reason for its inability to break the impasse over three farm laws passed in September. The plan has been devised as the BJP is gearing to contest elections in Punjab on its own starting with the local polls in February following Shiromani Akali Dal’s (SAD) exit from the National Democratic Alliance (NDA). The SAD quit the over two-decade-long alliance with the BJP in protest against the farm laws that have triggered protests. A BJP leader said the failure in nurturing leadership in rural Punjab has prevented the party from stemming the ongoing agitation against the laws and clear the misconceptions about them.Also Read: Farmers’ protests: Sixth round of talks today; unions want repeal of laws, higher MSP“The BJP could not convince the farmers of the benefits that they stand to gain once the laws are implemented. It did not help that the SAD, which was a part of the NDA, and therefore a part of the decision-making process played a double-game and backed out at the last moment. Had they been part of the NDA, it would have been easier for us to clear the misconceptions,” the leader said on condition of anonymity.BJP strategists have warned that a lack of direct contact with people in Punjab’s rural areas could upset its expansion plans ahead of the 2022 assembly elections. This has prompted the party to begin preparations for a membership drive in the rural areas, opening offices at the block levels and to identify candidates for the assembly polls.Former Union minister Vijay Sampla, who has been a Parliament member from Punjab, said they were making amends by focussing on rural areas. “When we were in alliance with the SAD, they kept us out of the rural areas. They did not allow BJP leaders to hold positions in the rural development bodies and would even dissuade us from holding public programmes in these areas. They back-stabbed us on the farm laws. So, the party will put in 10 times the effort required to build its base in Punjab.”Sampla rejected the perception that the BJP is on shaky ground in Punjab over the farm laws, saying they are not allowed to hold public programmes. “Just as the TMC [Trinamool Congress] government in West Bengal is not allowing BJP leaders to step out and hold programmes, the Congress government is doing the same in Punjab.” He added the Punjab government is worried the BJP without the SAD has emerged stronger. “On Monday, we met the state DGP [director general of police] to complain that we were not even allowed to hold public programmes to mark the [birth] anniversary of [late] former PM [Prime Minister] Atal Bihari Vajpayee [on December 25],” he said.A third leader said the local elections and finding candidates for all the seats will be the first big challenge for the party. “Earlier the SAD used to play big brother in the state and allocate seats to the BJP. Now we have to contest all the seats to increase our hold over the urban areas.”SS Jodhka, a sociology professor at New Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University, said caste and class factors will impact the BJP’s plans in Punjab. “It is natural for the party to want to have its own social base in Punjab. But in the current context, it would be difficult for the BJP. In the rural areas, there has been a communal divide as well with the Sikhs opting for the SAD and the urban Hindus the BJP.”

Hindustan Times

30-12-2020

India