Haryana Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala faced boycott in his home constituency on Thursday, when villagers dug up a helipad ahead of his visit and demanded his resignation for backing BJP in the state and centre.
They said Mr Chautala will not be allowed to enter the village till he quits his position in the state government – formed with support of his party the Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) – and backs farmers who form his main voterbase.
Villagers in Jind’s Uchana Kalan waved black flags and raised slogans of farmers’ unity. They also chanted slogans against the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led central government and “Dushyant Chautala go back”.
Mr Chautala, the chief of JJP – an NDA ally at Centre and coalition partner in Haryana’s BJP-led government – cancelled his visit after the incident, but did not state why.
“His grandfather and former chief minister Devi Lal Chautala left his seat in farmers’ support, but Dushyant Chautala has left the farmers to safeguard his position. We will not let him enter the constituency till he quits,” Farmer leader Krishna Kumar said.
“All political leaders who come here till the farm laws are not repealed will be treated in the same way,” Khap leader Azad Pallav added.
The boycott comes close on heels of hundreds of farmers showing black flags to Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar’s convoy in Haryana’s Ambala – a district bordering Punjab. The convoy was forced to turn back and chief minister prevented from campaigning for a municipal poll candidate. The Haryana Police has registered a case against 13 farmers on various charges including attempt to murder and rioting.
On December 1, a group of farmers had also shown black flags to Union Minister Rattan Lal Kataria at a village in Ambala, from where he is an MP.
Many BJP leaders in Haryana have been facing social boycott after a call to this effect by khap panchayat leaders in early December.
The khap leaders have specifically called for boycotting Hisar MP Brijendra Singh and Mr Chautala, who had recently said he “will quit” if he is unable to secure minimum support price (MSP) for farmers.
For almost a month, lakhs of farmers have been protesting at Delhi’s borders demanding legal assurance for continued MSP and repeal of three laws cleared by the Centre in September. They fear the laws, which they say were enacted without consultation, will leave them vulnerable to exploitation by corporates.
The centre has said the laws are only intended to open new markets for them, but all talks with the farmers have failed.
While the farmers want a complete rollback, the government says it will only change the problematic portions of the laws.
