Farmers Movement Archive

BJP workers, farmers clash at UP Gate site

A group of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers and farmers protesting the Centre’s three farm laws allegedly clashed at UP Gate on the Delhi-Meerut Expressway (DME) in Ghaziabad on Wednesday afternoon after the workers gathered there to welcome a party official.Both groups lodged a police complaint against each other. While the BJP claimed that many people were injured and vehicles damaged in the incident, the farmers said they had protested peacefully and that it was the BJP that attacked them.Police said they were not informed of the BJP workers’ intention of gathering there.“They (BJP workers) were on one side of the DME (the Delhi to Ghaziabad carriageway), while the farmers were on the other. As soon as we came to know that the BJP workers had gathered there, we rushed a team there,” said Gyanendra Kumar Singh, superintendent of police (city 2). “We have received complaints from both sides and are investigating them.”The BJP workers had gathered to welcome Amit Valmiki, the party’s new secretary who was arriving from Delhi.“There were about 300-400 of us, including 20-25 women... We were peacefully standing there when suddenly, hundreds of them (farmers) jumped the central verge and attacked us,” said Sanjeev Sharma, city president of the BJP’s Ghaziabad unit.He said several party workers, including women, were injured and about 30-40 vehicles damaged.“Later, we met the district magistrate and senior superintendent of police and submitted a police complaint,” Sharma said.Priti Chandra, member of the party’s women’s wing said, “One of our workers suffered a fracture to her leg while several other women suffered minor injuries. While we boarded our cars to get away, the farmers banged our cars with sticks and swords.”The farmer leaders insisted the “attack” was a conspiracy to malign their peaceful protest, which had been ongoing since November 28, 2020 from the Ghaziabad-Delhi carriageway.“It is BJP’s new conspiracy to malign the farmers’ movement. They came on the pretext of welcoming their leader and damaged their own cars. We have given our complaint to the police,” said Jagtar Singh Bajwa, UP Gate site spokesperson from ‘Samyukta Kisan Morcha.’He said that BJP workers came near their camp and started waiving their party flags. “Upon this, our farmers pulled out black flags and started waiving it at them,” Bajwa said.Rakesh Tikait, the national spokesperson of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU), backed the conspiracy theory.“They (BJP) were trying to instigate farmers on pretext of welcoming their leader. They said farmers were trying to oppose their leader who is from Valmiki community. This agitation is not against any community, and we have members of every community who are part of the protest,” Tikait said.Amit Valmiki eventually did arrive in Ghaziabad, said BJP’s Sharma.Last year, the Parliament had passed three laws: The Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance, Farm Services Act, 2020 and The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act 2020. While the government said these laws would be beneficial to the agriculture sector, farmers say that they would severely affect their livelihood.

Hindustan Times

30-06-2021

Noida