Farm Laws: Call for BJP Boycott Grows Louder in Uttar Pradesh

Lucknow: Up in arms against the three Farm Laws, the residents of Bhadira and Hirnoti villages in Uttar Pradesh held a protest on Tuesday and announced that they would boycott ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders. They said that if any villager violated the order they would have to face a social boycott.

The decision was announced at a panchayat of the Sarvajamaj. Women in particular also joined Bhadira's panchayat and expressed their voice against BJP MPs and MLAs.

The villagers said that they had elected BJP representatives so that they could raise their voice in support of farmers. On the contrary, however, they said that their representatives have been supporting the government over the three laws. “We are not benefitted by such public representatives. As a result we have decided to boycott every BJP leader in the region,” Urmila Devi, one of the protesters, said.

Similarly, residents of three villages in Ghaziabad district have also boycotted and banned the entry of their local MLA, Nand Kishor Gurjar, for “disrespecting” farmers. The move comes days after he was accused of intimidating protesters at the ongoing farmer’s agitation against new farm laws at the Ghazipur Border.

Banners declaring opposition to the BJP MLA have come up in the villages of Banthla, Behta, Afzalpur and Nistoli where locals and panchayats have made boycott announcements over the last few days.

“Gaon Banthla Loni Vidhayak Nand Kishor Gurjar ka bahishkaar karta hai. Jo kisanon ka apmaan karega, Banthla gaon use bardaasht nahin karega (Village Banthala boycotts Loni MLA Nand Kishor Gurjar. Banthala won’t tolerate anyone who disrespects farmers),” reads a banner hung at the entry to the village.

A day after Banthla put up the banner announcing that it was boycotting their local MLA, the adjacent village of Afzalpur came up with the same banner. On January 31, the elderly folk at Behta too announced that they were boycotting the local MLA after a panchayat and appealed to him to not visit the hamlet.

“Nand Kishor has not only disrespected farmers but also went to Ghazipur border and indulged in hooliganism with his supporters. We all are farmers and whatever we are today is because of our land,” said Uday Gurjar, a villager.

Another villager, Rajveer, called the MLA “anti-farmer” and accused him of wanting to score political brownie points on the issue.

A day after a mahapanchayat took place in Muzaffarnagar to rally behind BKU leader Rakesh Tikait, the impact of the 'mahapanchayat' against the three Farm Laws across western Uttar Pradesh is becoming evident. Banners have come up in villages in Muzaffarnagar, Baghpat, Bijnor, Shamli, and Ghaziabad, voicing the villagers’ anger against BJP leaders and party supporters.

Meanwhile, In Bijnor's Rashidpur Gadhi village, nearly a dozen farmers associated with the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) called for a “complete boycott” of the party.

“We won’t allow the entry of BJP leaders from the ruling government to our village till the government rolls back the three Farm Laws. We also want proper and timely procurement of paddy,” said Sukhbir Jagga, BKU member and a local resident of Bijnor.