Badal faces black flags at Khadoor Sahib function
Friday, 27/11/2015
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KHADOOR SAHIB (TARN TARAN): In a major embarrassment to Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal, hundreds of farmers on Thursday showed him black flags during a sangat darshan programme at Bharowal village in the Khadoor Sahib assembly constituency.
Protesters raising black flags during Parkash Singh Badal’s sangat darshan at Khadoor Sahib on Thursday; (right) the CM addressing the gathering.
The chief minister, who resumed his sangat darshan programmes after a break of almost three months due to unrest in the state, was left stunned when about 150 farmer activists of the Kisan Sangharsh Committee started raising slogans against him and Modi government.
Though the protest took place around 100 metres from the ‘pandal’, the anti-CM slogans were clearly audible to the gathering. Protesters also tried to come close to the ‘pandal’, but were stopped by police. Agitated over this, farmers staged a dharna and lashed out at the Badal government for “ignoring their problems and not giving adequate MSP to basmati growers.”
The farmers also slammed the chief minister for failing to control incidents of sacrilege. The dharna resulted in traffic chaos as the road remained blocked for more than an hour.
As tension mounted, the chief minister hurriedly left the venue to attend another sangat darshan at nearby Fatehabad town.
“The chief minister is not taking farmers’ grievances seriously,” claimed farmer leader Jasbir Singh Piddi. The farmers had announced to ‘gherao’ the CM during the sangat darshan in view of their pending demands.
Activists of Kisan Sangharsh Committee (Kanwalpreet Pannu faction), Jamhoori Kisan Sabha (JKS) and Kirti Kisan Union, too, participated in the protest.
Later, Badal addressed gatherings at Goindwal Sahib, Vein Puin and Lalpura.
