The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Punjab committed a huge faux pas as it used the picture of a farmer protesting at Singhu border to publicise its ‘MSP will stay’ stand. The Punjab BJP on Monday released a post on social networking site Facebook where it used the image of the protesting farmer. The post said that 49 per cent of foodgrains that have been purchased by the government come from Punjab.
The image is of one Harpreet Singh, belonging to Hoshiyarpur. He has been seen protesting here for two weeks. Singh was informed by his friend last night about his face in pro farm laws ads.He said he didn’t know how and why the BJP used his picture that was clicked way back in 2014, when the National Democratic Alliance assumed its first term.
On Tuesday, protesting farmers stuck to their stand that they would not accept anything less than the repealing of the newly-formulated farm laws. Rakesh Tikait, spokesperson of the Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU), said the farmers were prepared even if the issues takes more than a month to get resolved.
Farmers are protesting against the Centre’s three contentious laws enacted in September this year. The government has projected the laws as major reforms in the agriculture sector that will remove middlemen and allow farmers to sell their produce anywhere in the country.
However, the protesting farmers have expressed apprehension that the new laws would pave the way for eliminating the safety cushion of the minimum support price and do away with the mandis, leaving them at the mercy of big corporates.
