Farmers Movement Archive

Charuni clears water cannon boy, his father of funds “misuse” charge; expulsion to continue

Almost two days after Bhartiya Kisan Union (Charuni) expelled radical farmer leader from Ambala, Jai Singh Jalbera, and his son Navdeep, popularly known as water cannon boy, for allegedly getting involved in anti-union activities and misappropriation of funds, union president Gurnam Singh Charuni cleared them of the said charges. In a video message on Monday, Charuni said that after the duo’s expulsion, some facts regarding the usage of funds came to his notice that appeared to be true. “Navdeep refused to appear before the inquiry committee twice while Jai Singh failed to prove the charges were false. But later, the funds use was found to be genuine, so they are now free of the charges. But due to the indiscipline they created in Panchkula, their expulsion will continue,” he said. The duo was dismissed after they had allegedly gone against the union’s plan of action during the governor house gherao on June 26 and got into a brief scuffle with fellow protesters for breaking the police barricades. A top union leader said the father-son duo has been given a month’s time to appear before a five-member discipline committee, comprising Rampal Chahal from Karnal, Azad Palwa from Jind and other leaders. “The fund that was mentioned earlier, amounted to ₹25,000, but now they’ve clarified its usage. However, they have to appear before the other committee on the Panchkula issue if they believe that our decision was wrong,” the leader said. Meanwhile, Navdeep said the fund was collected by activists of the same region to utilise it for campaigning, purchasing milk for Shambhu border or travelling to Singhu border. “It was a volunteer fund of Ambala-1 and 2 blocks, not of jathebandi as claimed. It was used in the interests of the union but some people conspired against us to implicate us, but all allegations were proved to be false,” he said. On being asked about the next course of action, the 26-year-old said, “We are conducting our own meetings to decide if should appear before the committee or not.” The union’s Ambala Unit will hold a panchayat under the chairmanship of President Malkit Singh at a gurudwara on Tuesday to discuss on the issue. All the members of the union have been publically invited to the meeting.

Hindustan Times

06-07-2021

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