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Gurdaspur BJP candidate Dinesh Babbu again faces farmers’ ire
This is the second time that Babbu, BJP’s Gurdaspur Lok Sabha seat nominee, has faced a protest by farmers. He had also faced the farmers’ wrath in Batala on April 21.
A group of farmers on Saturday protested against BJP candidate Dinesh Babbu in Gurdaspur when he was campaigning for the Lok Sabha polls.
This is the second time that Babbu, BJP’s Gurdaspur Lok Sabha seat nominee, has faced a protest by farmers. He had also faced the farmers’ wrath in Batala on April 21.
On Saturday, the farmers, carrying black flags, posed several questions to Babbu when he was canvassing in Gurdaspur’s Sathiali village.
One of the protesters slammed the BJP-led central government for not letting protesting farmers to march to Delhi and using “force” against them. The protesters also condemned the government for not giving farmers a legal guarantee of Minimum Support Price (MSP) on all crops.
Babbu is not alone. BJP candidates across Punjab are finding it difficult to campaign for Lok Sabha elections, especially in rural parts, with various farmers’ groups giving a call to not allow the nominees of the country’s ruling party in the state.
The BJP has so far declared its candidates for nine out of Punjab’s 13 seats — all of which will vote on June 1 in the seventh and last phase of the Lok Sabha polls.
In the last 15 days, BJP candidates in the agrarian state have come across at least 40 protests from various farmer groups, who not only raise anti-party slogans and show black flags but on occasions, also heckle them and halt their movements.
BJP’s Faridkot candidate Hans Raj Hans, Amritsar candidate Taranjit Singh Sandhu and Patiala candidate Preneet Kaur have witnessed the farmers’ anger.
