BJP blames 'rattled' opposition parties for attack on its workers

The BJP on Friday accused its rivals of instigating violence against its workers in opposition-ruled states like Punjab and Maharashtra, claiming that "increasing acceptance" of farm laws coupled with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "rising graph of popularity" among farmers has rattled them.

BJP general secretary Dushyant Kumar Gautam noted that his party workers were attacked in some parts of Punjab on a day when Modi engaged with farmers and addressed them.

The BJP had chosen more than 19,000 venues across the country to bring farmers to listen to his speech.

Tents put up by its workers for the exercise were dismantled by rivals in Vidarbha region of Maharashtra, Gautam alleged, adding that the police in both states did nothing.

This indicates the support of ruling parties in these states to such acts, he said.

Gautam said people carrying banners of farmer unions carried out these attacks but claimed that BJP's political rivals, including the Congress in Punjab and the Left in Vidarbha, were behind the incidents.

"We have seen how top opposition leaders like Congress president Sonia Gandhi and former prime minister Manmohan Singh besides Sharad Pawar of the NCP supported these very reforms once which have been now carried out by the Modi government. They are rattled due to Modi's rising popularity among farmers," he said.

A group of farmers on Friday ransacked the venue of an event organised by the BJP to mark the birth anniversary of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee at Bathinda in Punjab, leaving at least five party workers injured, police said.

However, some farmers at the venue claimed anti-social elements and not peasants were behind the incident.

Some people were listening to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's address at the event venue at Amrik Singh Road when a group of farmers reached there shouting slogans and ransacked the place. They broke chairs and the LED system, the police said.