New Delhi: Swaraj India founder Yogendra Yadav, on Sunday, said that though the Kisan Andolan ‘failed’ to result in Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) defeat in Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections 2022, it would be unfair to say that the movement had no impact on the UP polls. In a Facebook video, Yadav said that the role of the farmers’ protests was that of a groundsman, who creates a pitch for a cricket match. But the political organizations such as the Samajwadi Party (SP), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Congress that should have ‘bowled’ in the match, did not do their job well.”The purpose of Kisan Andolan was to create a pitch. In this match, we were neither the batsmen nor bowlers. We were groundsmen and our job was to create the pitch. Bowling was not our job. To throw Yogibaba out was the job of SP, BSP, Congress, and other organized political parties. There were shortcomings in their fight against the BJP,” Yadav said.Yadav was speaking in response to reports, which claimed that the Kisan Andolan did not have any impact on the Assembly elections as the BJP won elections across Uttar Pradesh, including the eight seats of Lakhimpur Kheri.”In Punjab, the farmers’ protests laid the foundation of the Assembly polls. AAP or the other parties that won the maximum number of votes in Punjab supported the Kisan Andolan,” Yadav said.Lakhimpur Kheri was never the strong area of farmers’ protests: YadavYadav further added that the Kisan Andolan contributed to creating opposition in Uttar Pradesh. He also said that the farmers’ issues became polling matters because of farmers’ protests. He said that though the BJP won two-thirds of UP’s seats, in the 19 seats of UP, which are considered the fort of farmer protests – Muzaffarnagar, Shambhavi, Baghpat, and Meerut, the party lost 13 seats. “The six seats that it won from, are urban seats. Lakhimpur Kheri was never the strong area of farmers’ protests. It became the point of attention because of the unfortunate incident. Did the result of Assembly elections change because of farmers’ protests? No. Is this a defeat of Kisan Andolan? I accept that this is defeat. But to say that there was no impact of farmers’ protests on the elections would be inappropriate,” he added.