Chandigarh: Hours before Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s election rally in Punjab’s border town of Ferozepur, #GobackModi began trending on Twitter.
Several farmers unions had gathered in and around Ferozepur to protest against Modi’s visit, refreshing memories of the farmers’ movement that forced Modi to repeal the farm laws last November.
Modi’s rally was to have been the first in the state ahead of the Punjab assembly election and a significant one, considering that Punjab had been the epicentre of one of the biggest public movements in recent times.
The inauguration of projects worth Rs 42,000 including a satellite centre of the PGIMER, two hospitals and highway projects was part of Modi’s Punjab itinerary. A 30-acre venue on the Ferozepur-Moga Road was earmarked for the rally. It had a sitting capacity of nearly a lakh.
However, this rally has turned into the subject of a major political controversy between BJP and Congress after the prime minister cancelled his programme and returned to Delhi without addressing the rally or inaugurating the projects.
There was confusion all around once the announcement was first made by Union Minister Masukh Mandaviya from the rally stage just after BJP’s new ally, Captain Amarinder Singh, addressed the gathering and blamed his former party, Congress, with “playing” with the security of the border state.
Soon after, the Ministry of Home Affairs issued a statement, alleging a major security breach in the PM’s cavalcade which it claimed had forced Modi to return. The MHA said that the PM landed in Bathinda on Wednesday at around noon. From there, he was to go to the National Martyrs Memorial at Hussainiwala by helicopter and then to the rally venue.
Due to rain and poor visibility, the PM waited for about 20 minutes for the weather to clear. When the weather didn’t improve, it was decided that he would visit the National Martyrs Memorial via road, which would take more than two hours.
He proceeded to travel by road after necessary confirmation of security arrangements was given by the DGP Punjab Police. Around 30 km away from National Martyrs Memorial in Hussainiwala, when the PM’s convoy reached a flyover, it was found that the road was blocked by some protesters. “The PM was stuck on a flyover for 15-20 minutes. This was a major lapse in the security of the PM,” the MHA statement said. It added that after this security lapse, it was decided the PM would head back to Bathinda airport.
From the PM’s barb on the Punjab CM to BJP’s national president J.P. Nadda levelling charges to MHA seeking an urgent report from the Punjab government, BJP has been on the offensive over this visit.
As per an ANI report, the PM before leaving for Delhi from Bathinda airport told Punjab government officials present there to thank Punjab CM Charanjit Singh Channi for the fact that he was able to “return to Bathinda airport alive.”
Even as protesting farmers stopped BJP supporters from heading towards the PM’s rally venue and later, images of empty chairs at the venue went viral on social media, Nadda, in a series of tweets, alleged that the state police was instructed to prevent people from attending the rally.
He added that this incident was also a big security lapse. “Protestors were given access to the Prime Minister’s route while the Punjab CS and DGP gave assurances to SPG that the route is clear,” he tweeted.
“It is sad that the PM’s visit to launch development projects worth thousands of crores for Punjab was disrupted,” he added.
On the other hand, Amarinder Singh too launched an attack on the Punjab government, saying, “When you can’t provide smooth passage to the PM of the country and that too just 10 km from the Pakistan border, you have no right to stay in office.”
Union Minister Smriti Irani addressed the media in Delhi in the evening. “Never before in the history of our country, has a state government knowingly constructed a scenario where the PM will be brought to harm. We know Congress hates Modi but today they tried to harm the PM of India,” she said.
On the other hand, Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar told the media that the Punjab government should take responsibility of the incident.
On the other hand, the Congress government in Punjab has been denying any conspiracy. A minister in the Channi government, Raj Kumar Veraka said, “There were no shortcomings in the security arrangements during the PM’s visit to Punjab today. The accusations of a security breach are baseless. The truth is that BJP’s rally was a flop show. When PM got to know this, he decided to return.”
In an interview to a local media, CM Channi said, “As many as 70,000 chairs were put up for the PM’s rally, but only 700 people turned up.”
“The farmers have been agitating peacefully for the last one year. I’m not going to lathi-charge at farmers. We spoke to farmers the whole last night after which they ended their agitation. Today, suddenly some agitators gathered in Ferozepur district,” Channi said later in press conference.
“If there were any security lapses during PM Modi’s visit today, then we will conduct an inquiry. There was no danger to the prime minister,” Channi said, while adding, “I express regret that PM Modi had to return during his visit to Ferozepur district today. We respect our PM.”
Congress’s spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewal later said that BJP was unnecessarily making a fuss of the PM’s visit.
“It was SPG’s responsibility to assess the whole security of the PM. If PM’s route was changed at the last minute, SPG must answer why it did not assess the security arrangements properly before the PM’s road visit to the rally ground from Bathinda. I want to ask whether there was any threat to the PM’s cavalcade. Was anyone near his cavalcade and did that compromise his security? BJP is politicising the matter for vested political gains,” said Surjewala.
He added that all protocols were followed during his visit. “Neither was there any security breach nor will we let such a thing happen in the future. He is our PM too. If chairs are empty in his rally, the responsibility for that should not be on us,” he said. The Wire
