News Analysis India

Tag: Sanjeev Balyan

  • Farmers’ leaders should decide whether they want praise from Pakistan, cautions Union Minister Balyan slamming Rakesh Tikait

    By ANI

    NEW DELHI: Terming Kisan Mahapanchayat a “political gathering”, Union Minister Sanjeev Balyan on Monday slammed Bhartiya Kisan Union (Arajnaitik) leader, Rakesh Tikait for becoming a tool in hands of the country’s rivals.

    Balyan, Member of Parliament from Muzzafarnagar constituency, asked farmer leaders to think about whether they want to be praised by the Pakistan government for their agitation against the Central government.

    Responding to Radio Pakistan tweet about Kisan Mahapanchayat in Muzzafarnagar, Balyan said, “When elections come, everyone indulges in rallies and Uttar Pradesh gets too many rallies. But farmers leaders need to think about whether they want praise from the Pakistan government?”

    “Those who are India’s enemies or oppose us, whether these leaders want to be liked by our rivals like Pakistan. They need to decide this for themselves,” he added.

    He, however, cautioned farmers into getting played in hands of other political parties lending support to agitation to further their own propaganda.

    “It felt like Rajnitik mahapanchayat, a political gathering rather than Kisan mahapanchayat. Farmers issues were barely discussed in that gathering,” observed Balyan. The minister further said that farmers are being misused by various political parties to further their agendas.

    “We saw banners and flags of various political parties in that Mahapanchayat. Everyone knows who took the farmers to Red Fort,” stated Balyan.

    A Kisan Mahapanchayat was held in Muzzafarnagar on Sunday against three farm laws by the Centre and declared that they will campaign against BJP in the upcoming assembly elections. The Mahapanchayat witnessed participation from various political parties.

    Balyan, however, expressed confidence that the BJP would win the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls again.

    “BJP will form government in Uttar Pradesh. The elections are in February and in March we will sit to form the government. We will go to everyone even those who did Mahapanchayat. Even those who are opposing us and will ask for votes” said the union minister who slammed Tikait for taking out a tractor rally during Muzzafarnagar riots against the government.

    “UP hasn’t forgotten the period between 2012 and 2017,” stated the minister.

    UP Assembly polls are scheduled to take place early next year. In 2017, the BJP won a landslide victory winning 312 Assembly seats. The party secured a 39.67 per cent vote share in the elections for 403-member Assembly. Samajwadi Party (SP) bagged 47 seats, BSP won 19 while Congress could manage to win only seven seats.

    Tikait on Monday said that the new agricultural laws are stifling the farmers slowly unlike COVID which will take life at a one go.

    “No one questioned the yataras organised by the government. The laws made by the government are more dangerous than COVID. Pandemic will kill you in one go but the laws of the government will kill people slowly,” he said when asked that a huge number of people gathered at the Kisan Mahapanchayat organised by the Sanyukt Kisan Morcha in Muzaffarnagar can turn to super spreader event as COVID infections soar.

    “The gathering at the Kisan Mahapanchayat at the Muzaffarnagar is proof that people are not satisfied with the work of the government.”

    Tikait also reiterated that they would not leave the Delhi borders till “they emerge victorious”.

    The Sanyukt Kisan Morcha’s ‘Kishan Mahapanchayat’ was held at the Government Inter College grounds in Muzaffarnagar.

    Speaking to ANI, the farmer leader said that BKU does not want to join the politics and instead it is in favour of resolving their issues.

    This comes in response to Union Minister and Muzaffarnagar MP Sanjeev Balyan earlier on Sunday said that if Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) wants to enter politics then the BJP will be welcome them.

    “We do not want to join politics. We just want the issues of farmers to be resolved. There are leaders in BJP who are supporting the farmers. The people know who are the leaders not supporting farmers, they will react according to it. Balyan should support the farmers like Varun Gandhi and Satya Pal Malik,” Tikait said.

    Bharatiya Janata Party MP from Pilibhit, Varun Gandhi had come out in support of protesting farmers and said that the Centre should understand the pain of farmers.

    Farmers have been protesting on the different borders of the national capital since November 26 last year against the three newly enacted farm laws: Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020; the Farmers Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and farm Services Act 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.Farmer leaders and the Centre have held several rounds of talks but the impasse remains.

  • Security tightened at Union Minister Sanjeev Balyan’s home in Uttar Pradesh

    By PTI
    MUZAFFARNAGAR: Security was tightened at Union Minister Sanjeev Balyan’s residence on Monday after Hindu Kranti Dal activists tried to stage a dharna outside the BJP leader’s house over his meeting with zila panchayat member Shahnawaz.

    The activists alleged that Shahnawaz is allegedly involved in a cow slaughter case and that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) should keep a distance from such people.

    As the activists tried to go to the minister’s residence, police intercepted them.

    Later, they staged a dharna at Mahabir Chowk here and gave a memorandum to city magistrate Abhishek Singh.

    Central para-military force has been deployed outside the Civil Lines police station area to contain any untoward incident.

    Reportedly, the BJP leader visited Shahnawaz to seek support for a zila panchayat chairman candidate backed by him.

  • Union Minister Sanjeev Balyan’s brother, Jitender, dies due to COVID-19

    By PTI
    MUZAFFARNAGAR: Union Minister Sanjeev Balyan’s brother, Jitender Balyan, died in AIIMS, Delhi due to COVID-19 on Tuesday, according to family members.

    Jitender Balyan, who was the cousin brother of the union minister, was elected as the village head of Kutba village in Muzaffarnagar district in the recently concluded panchayat elections in Uttar Pradesh.

    He got infected with COVID-19 during election campaigning and was being treated at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi, family members said.

  • Union minister Sanjeev Balyan tests positive for COVID-19

    By PTI
    MUZAFFARNAGAR: Union minister Sanjeev Balyan said he has tested positive for coronavirus following which he has isolated himself.

    In a tweet on Sunday night, he said, “I got tested for COVID-19 after showing some symptoms while campaigning for West Bengal elections. The report is positive and I have isolated myself.”

    Balyan requested those who came in contact with him in the last few days to get themselves tested for the virus.

  • False narrative created that farmers will lose land, won’t get support price: Sanjeev Balyan

    By PTI
    MUZAFFARNAGAR: With khaps in western Uttar Pradesh throwing their weight behind the ongoing protest against the Centre’s new farm laws, BJP leader and Union Minister Sanjeev Balyan on Wednesday said the issue has become “emotional” and acknowledged that his party and the government might not have been able to explain the benefits of the legislations to farmers.

    Balyan, the sitting MP from Muzaffarnagar, has been criss-crossing the region for a week as part of an outreach effort and has met local people and heads of khaps (cast councils).

    During his visit to Soram village, headquarters of the “sarv khap”, a clash had broken out between workers of the BJP and the RLD.

    “Farmers are facing problems today and no one can deny that. They are vulnerable and need protection from the government,” Balyan told PTI.

    The farmers have some genuine issues such as prices of sugarcane have not been increased for the last few years and that need to be resolved, says Balyan, who belongs to the dominant Jaat community engaged in farming in western Uttar Pradesh.

    Asserting that a “wrong perception” has been spread among farmers, the minister said, “A false narrative has been created that farmers with the implementation of these laws would lose their land and wouldn’t get support price for their crops. And perhaps we might not have been able to make them understand the positives of these laws.”

    Asked about some clauses of the laws which are vehemently opposed by the protesting farmers, the BJP leader said the Centre is open to amendments.

    Responding to questions of the way ahead, Balyan hoped for an early resolution of the issue.

    Talking to PTI in his office with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s picture on the wall behind him and that of Chaudhary Charan Singh on the side, Balyan said, “I will raise the issues faced by farmers with both the Centre and the state government.”

    Charan Singh was one of the tallest Jaat leaders, hailing from western Uttar Pradesh.

    His son Ajit Singh, the supremo of RLD, was defeated by Balyan in the last Lok Sabha elections in Muzaffarnagar.

    Talking about the next assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh and the possible impact of the farmers’ protest, Balyan said, “On the back of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity and Yogi Adityanath-led state government’s performance, the party will get good result from the region.”

    In the wake of mahapanchayts by Jaats against the farm laws in the Haryana, western Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, the BJP top brass had told party MLAs, MPs and other leaders from these states to proactively reach out to the farmers and khaps.

    They were also asked to make clear any misconceptions about the farm laws.

    Farmers, mostly from Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, are protesting at Delhi’s borders against the laws for nearly last three months since November 28 last year and demanding complete repeal of these three laws.

    They are protesting against the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act.

    The government has maintained that the laws will benefit the farmers.

    The government had held 11 rounds of negotiation with protesting farmers which remained inconclusive.

  • Soram village clash pre-planned; happened after announcement from mosque: Balyan

    Three to four people were injured on Monday during the clash at Soram village where Balyan had gone to pay homage to a deceased local.

  • BJP, RLD supporters clash in UP’s Muzaffarnagar in presence of union minister

    By PTI
    MEERUT: A clash broke out between supporters of the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Rashtriya Lok Dal in Muzaffarnagar’s Soram village on Monday when Union minister Sanjeev Balyan turned up there for a programme.

    Local police station incharge Sanjeev Kumar told PTI that three people were injured in the clash.

    A war of words also broke out between BJP leader and Union minister Sanjeev Balyan and RLD vice-president Jayant Chaudhary over the clash.

    The clash took place when Union minister Balyan was in Soram to pay homage to a deceased local but supporters of his party and the RLD had an argument over the ongoing farmers’ protest against new central farm laws.

    “Clash between BJP politicians and farmers in Soram village, several injured. If there’s no talk in favour of farmers, at least have a good attitude towards them. Respect the farmers! Now farmers will have to tolerate hooliganism of government’s representatives who are telling pros of the new laws,” Chaudhary tweeted.

    Responding to the charges, Balyan said he was in the village to pay homage to a deceased local.

    “Some five to six Lok Dal politicians started misbehaving and hurling abuses. Some locals intervened and sent these people away,” he tweeted in Hindi.

    “The way Lok Dal party is trying to disrupt harmony by hiding behind farmers is condemnable,” he added.

    Soram in Muzaffarnagar is the epicentre of the influential Balyan Khap, which is headed by Bharatiya Kisan Union president Naresh Tikait.

    Tikait’s brother and BKU spokesperson Rakesh Tikait, meanwhile, appealed to people to maintain harmony.

    “If a public representative comes to your village, do question him but keep it in a dignified manner. Everybody has a right to put forth their views in a democracy and a public representative must also keep public’s sentiments in mind,” Tikait said in a statement.

    He said the government should consider farmers’ request.