Farmers union calls Modi security lapse 'drama', denies stopping PM convoy

Chandigarh: Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) on Friday alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's security lapse at Ferozpur in Punjab was a drama staged by the BJP to cover up the failure of Modi's rally.

Significantly, this marks the first time for the integrated farmers' body to have issued a statement regarding the incident, even though various farmer leaders have been raising the issue on an individual level for a while.

"On the day of Prime Minister Modi's rally, a symbolic protest was announced by 10 farmer organisations in all the district tehsils of Punjab. For this purpose, programmes like effigy burning were announced at the village level across Punjab on January 2 and at district and tehsil headquarters on January 5. However, there was no plan to stop the Prime Minister's visit or obstruct his programme. This demonstration was organised for the arrest of Ajay Mishra Teni and other outstanding demands of Kisan Morcha regarding the Lakhimpur Kheri case," the statement read.

The note further explained that the protesting farmers, on the flyover where Modi's convoy got stuck, had no concrete information that the envoy was going to pass through and were part of the same protest, adding that they only received the information from the media after PM's return from the spot.

However, there is a contradiction between the statements provided by SKM and that of BKU (Revolutionary). BKU leader Surjit Singh Phool, who was leading the protest in Firozpur, said that he was informed by the local Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) about the PM's convoy but nonetheless disagreed to moving away and stayed there.