By PTI
CHANDIGARH: A group of farmers protesting against the Centre’s farm laws on Sunday chased away a local BJP leader in Punjab’s Patiala district where a party meeting was underway.
The incident took place as local BJP leaders and workers assembled for a meeting in Rajpura.
Protesting farmers gathered near the venue and started raising slogans against the BJP, prompting the police to escort the party’s leaders and workers out of the building.
When local leader Shanti Sapra was being escorted out, protesters carrying black flags chased him down the street.
Sapra later claimed that his clothes were torn away, even as police tried to protect him.
A few others, including local leader Bhupesh Aggarwal, took refuge in a house.
Aggarwal alleged he was beaten up by the protesters and claimed that his life was under threat.
The police, however, said they had deployed adequate personnel and the BJP leaders were taken out safely.
BJP national general secretary Tarun Chugh condemned the alleged “attack” on the party members and dubbed the incident a “daylight murder of democracy” under the Congress-led regime in Punjab.
In a statement, he alleged that the party’s political rivals, under the garb of the farmers’ protest, had been trying to “throttle” the voice of the BJP in the state.
Farmers, mainly from Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh, have been camping at Delhi’s borders for over seven months in protest against the three contentious agri laws.
The three laws: The Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020, and The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act 2020, were passed by Parliament in September last year.