Banner against entry of BJP leaders in Muz’nagar village, police deny
MEERUT: People in Kurawa village Muzaffarnagar district allegedly put up a banner this week banning the entry of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders in order to express solidarity with farmers pressing for the repeal of three contentious agriculture reform laws.
The villagers claimed the police removed the banner at night in Kurawa. The police denied that any such banner had come up in the village. Similarly, a banner came up at Pachenda Kalan village in Muzaffarnagar on Wednesday in support of the farmers’ movement. The banner supposedly put up at Kurawa on Tuesday bore the photos of farmer leader the late Mahendra Singh Tikait, former Prime Minister the late Chaudhary Charan Singh and the word “reject” on the BJP symbol lotus”. It also read, “kisanon ki yahi pukar, BJP ka karo bahishkar (Farmers demand boycott of the BJP).”
Vipin Malik and other villagers claimed that police removed the banner at night.
“We had not written anything about the government, then why have the police taken away the banner?” some villagers said and claimed that it was put up after seeking the consent of the other villagers. Kurawa village comes under the Fugana police station limits and station house officer (Fugana) Deshraj Singh refused to accept that any such banner was displayed in his area.
“No such banner was displayed in my area, including at the village Kurawa,” he said over the phone.
As for the banner at Pachenda Kalan village, it read “sab yaad rakha jayega” (nothing will be forgotten) with pictures of heavy barricading, nails and barbed wire at the farmers’ protest sites on the Delhi borders.
About 100 kilometres from here, villagers had put up a banner at the entry to Nareni village in Amroha district last week and it, too, allegedly disappeared overnight. Amroha’s superintendent of police Suniti (who goes by one name) said no instructions were given to the police to remove any banner. She said the banner was put up by a family outside their house and they removed it the next day. Notwithstanding her claims, village pradhan Chatar Singh said the banner was displayed at the entry road after seeking the consent of villagers.
“When we woke up in the morning, the banner was missing,” said Singh. He said there was nothing written about the government on the banner.
Surendra Singh, national vice president of Bhartiya Kisan Union ( Asli), claimed such banners were also displayed at Sahjadpur, Dhakiya, Rasoolpur Maafi and Kumrala villages of Amroha district earlier.
Manoj Malik, a former pradhan of Paswara village in Meerut district who has been associated with BJP for over two decades, said, “We were also farmers and can’t accept the neglect of farmers who have been fighting for their genuine demands.”
Rakesh Tyagi, the Meerut district president of Bharatiya Kisan Sangh (BKS), a frontal organisation of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) that works for farmers, said BKS was also of the opinion that the three farm laws needed amendments in favour of farmers and a law should be enacted to guarantee the procurement of crop on MSP (Minimum Support Price).
BJP Rajya Sabha member Vijaypal Singh Tomar said the banners were being displayed by people, who had affiliations with political parties, and not by villagers. He said there was no ban on BJP leaders and workers in villages and they were easily visiting the villages.