EXCLUSIVE: ‘Police told us PM was coming by road, we thought they were lying ‘ – Farmer leader on why protestors ‘blocked’ PM Modi’s convoy

PM Modi’s convoy blocked&nbsp | &nbspPhoto Credit:&nbspTimes Now

New Delhi: The Bharatiya Kisan Union (Krantikari) has admitted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cavalcade was blocked by its workers. Speaking exclusively to Times Now, Surjit Singh Phool, chief of Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) – Krantikari said that 12-13 farmer organisations decided to protest as the government had formed no committee on the Minimum Support Price (MSP). He, however, added that the group was protesting eight km from the site where PM Modi was slated to hold a rally and that it was a last-minute change of route by the PM’s cavalcade that resulted in the mayhem.

“There were 12 or 13 organisations from Punjab which had decided to protest. The reason behind the protest was that despite the government assurance, no committee has been formed on MSP, no compensation has been given to farmers who died in protests against the three farm laws and no action has been taken against MoS Home (whose son is the main accused in the Lakhimpur Kheri case),” Phool told Times Now in a telephonic conversation.

“At about 2 pm, we learnt that the PM would be coming by road from Bathinda. There was a big helipad near the rally. And the police said he is coming by road. So we thought that the police are lying and that PM would be coming by air. That is why we did not clear the road. We said you are lying (sic),” Phool said.

‘We would have emptied the road if we were convinced that he was coming by road’

He further added that the police tried to stop the protesting farmers, but the number of police and farmers was equal. “We did not clear the road. We do not know how his programme was changed. We would have emptied the road if we were convinced that he was coming by road. It was a confusion,” he further added.

Responding to a question on whether BKU Krantikari members would apologise for the incident that resulted in a major security lapse, Phool said that there was no question of apologising as protesting was their ‘democratic right’. 

“Can’t we protest? It is our democratic right. Whatever we have done, we have done the right thing,” he said.