Addressing a public meeting in Ambala city on Tuesday, Manohar Khattar claimed that protesters sitting on the Punjab side of the Haryana border are “wearing masks of farmers”.
Farmers’ Protest 2.0: Union minister Manohar Lal Khattar has stirred a fresh controversy with his remarks on the farmers’ protest, alleging that those protesting at the borders of Haryana, Delhi, and Punjab, are not farmers but masquerading as one and their goal is to destabilize elected governments.
Addressing a public meeting in Ambala city on Tuesday while campaigning for BJP candidate Aseem Goel, Khattar claimed that protesters sitting on the Punjab side of the Haryana border are “wearing masks of farmers” whose sole aim is to damage the system and destabilise the government.
“The big problem is the closure of (Shambu) border. Common people, especially traders, are facing problems due to its closure. We had plans to open the border, but those sitting across are not farmers, but wearing mask of farmers, few such people who want to damage the system, destabilise the established governments, they are such people,” Khattar alleged.
“Some people from Punjab, disguising themselves as farmers, started an uprising… The intention behind it was to bring down the Central and Haryana governments. Those disguised individuals even stormed the Red Fort in Delhi and reached the capital with tractors. They were not farmers…” he claimed, according to news agency ANI.
‘You know who they are’
“I don’t have to go into details, you also know who they are,” the former Haryana chief minister said, while also noting that Ambala is facing the brunt of the protests as its located close to the Shambhu border.
“We were moving ahead, but the matter was taken up in courts. Now, the case is before the Supreme Court, which has formed a committee. I feel a solution will be found.. but keep in mind the court will not allow (the border) to open without condition. And there is reason for this. The kind of havoc they created last time (during farmers’ stir in 2021), which farmer will disrespect the nation by climbing the Red Fort,” he said.
Congress reacts
Meanwhile, the BJP leader’s remarks triggered a sarcastic reaction from Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh Raja Warring.
“Khattar Sahab was removed because the BJP understood that as long as Khattar sahab is there, they will not get a single seat,” Warring said in a scathing jibe at the former CM
Farmers’ Protest 2.0
Farmers under the banner of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) and Kisan Mazdoor Morcha are spearheading the ‘Delhi Chalo’ march to press the government to accept their various demands which include that the Centre should give a legal guarantee for MSP for crops.
The protesting farmers have been staying put at the Shambhu and Khanauri border points between Punjab and Haryana since February 13 when their march was stopped by the security forces.
Recently, the Supreme Court constituted a committee headed by former Punjab and Haryana High Court judge Justice Nawab Singh to amicably resolve the grievances of protesting farmers at the Shambhu border. The top court was then hearing the Haryana government’s plea challenging the high court’s order asking it to remove within a week the barricades erected at the Shambhu border.
(With PTI inputs)
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