The game plan, as it appears, was to make the state administration to resort to harsh coercive actions against the agitating farmers instead of trying to make them disperse through civilised dialogue - which requires some time to bear fruit. (The decision to travel by road was taken at the last minute and the state administration had little time to act in compliance and the farmers had been agitating.)
Failing at that, Modi screamed murder! The godi media dutifully echoing. Not to miss, the underlying assumption is that the PM's fifteen minutes must be prioritised way above the bloods of the protesting farmers and it's a grave crime to do otherwise. This attempt at maligning - the farmers, the state - and its government, and Sikhs, would, in all probability, prove costly in Punjab. (As of now, it looks unlikely though that the state government would be dismissed based on this alibi.) Seemingly, the gang expects to harvest the fruits of (stirred up "Hindu") wrath in Uttarakhand and UP. Let's see. I. <<The BJP claimed the buses were stopped from reaching the venue. Sources, however, say the buses were indeed stopped, but the number was nowhere near the party’s claim of 3,000 buses. Of the 65,000 chairs arranged for the rally, 30,000 were put upside down. Around 5,000 chairs were occupied. The cancelled rally has allowed sidelined leaders to question the main organisers of the rally and the party for giving undue importance to turncoats. BJP general secretary Jiwan Gupta, who was the incharge of the rally, could not be contacted in spite of repeated attempts. Last week, state BJP chief Ashwani Sharma had claimed in a press conference that the party would gather five lakh people for the rally and it would be one of the biggest rallies in the Punjab’s history.>> (Ref.: < https://m.tribuneindia.com/news/punjab/5-000-turn-up-at-pms-rally-venue-358508 >.) II. <<It was raining in Bathinda when the PM landed at Bhisiana airport at 10.20 am. For over 30 minutes, he waited for the weather to clear before deciding to go to Hussainiwala memorial at Ferozepur, 122 km away, by road around 11.15 pm. This change of plan was promptly conveyed to the Punjab government and the police. Around 1.05 pm, the PM’s cavalcade reached the flyover near Piareana village only to find a traffic jam with buses coming from the opposite side and protesters on the road ahead. They were members of the Bhartiya Kisan Union Krantikari (Phul) and were protesting against BJP workers headed for the PM’s rally. Sources said that the DGP was in favour of “using force” to disperse the protesters so that the cavalcade could move but was told to exercise restraint. Sources said *the DGP was told the police should not do anything which could put the state government in a fix as had “happened during police action against anti-sacrilege protesters at Behbal Kalan after the incident of sacrilege at Bargari in 2015*” [emphasis added]. In that incident, two protesters, part of a group. blockading a road, were killed in police firing. Result: the PM’s cavalcade remained stranded on the bridge for over 15 minutes before deciding to turn back around 1.20 pm.>> (Ref.: < https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/chandigarh/behind-pm-security-breach-glaring-gaps-in-police-response-protocol-given-a-go-by-7708682/lite/ >.) IV. Modi cries murder: < https://www.aninews.in/news/national/general-news/apne-cm-ko-thanks-kehna-ki-mein-bhatinda-airport-tak-zinda-laut-paaya-pm-modi-told-officials-after-security-breach-during-punjab-visit20220105163306/?amp=1 >! V. Union Minister Smriti Irani addressing press conference, immediately after the incident, magnifying Modi's cry: <https://fb.watch/anPv9Mcvqv/>. VI. Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committe, one of the two organisations demonstrating there, speaks: < https://m.facebook.com/watch/?v=338711821178170&extid=CL-UNK-UNK-UNK-AN_GK0T-GK1C&ref=sharing >. VII. "PM security breach: Who were the protesters who held up Modi’s vehicle in Punjab? | Explained News,The Indian Express" at < https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/explained-who-were-the-protesters-who-held-up-modis-vehicle-in-punjab-7708093/lite/ >. VIII. AA. Punjab CM responds (video clip): <https://fb.watch/anPRJrtx8S/>. BB. <<The plan of PM’s travel by road was shared at the last moment. “*We were told that the PM would travel by a helicopter from Bathinda to Ferozepur. But all of sudden, the PM decided to travel by road* [emphasis added],” he [i.e. the Punjab CM] said. The CM said after receiving a call from Union Home Minister Amit Shah, he personally intervened and successfully convinced the farmers to lift dharnas on roads leading to the venue of BJP rally. All roads leading to the rally venue were cleared last night. Some agitators, however, reached there and sat on the road. The PM’s convoy was stopped way before that spot. “*To lift any protest it takes at least 10-20 minutes. The PM was informed about it and also offered a different route, but he chose to leave,” Channi said* [emphasis added].>> (Ref : < https://m.tribuneindia.com/news/punjab/no-security-lapse-pm-modis-route-was-changed-at-last-minute-punjab-cm-358561 >.) IX. An Additional Angle - concerning "security breach": <<A former IPS officer who served at a senior position in the Special Protection Group (SPG) pointed out that the core issue is that the PM’s cavalcade was indeed seen perched on a flyby with a crowd in the proximity, a moment captured in several photographs, which cannot be dismissed lightly. “Before moving to other issues, I am astonished that such photographs are in circulation in the first place. Who clicked them and why, and how were they leaked in the public domain? It was clearly not an accidental thing, as several photographs from all kinds of angles were taken,” he said, requesting anonymity due to the sensitivity of the incident and a bar on members of the SPG speaking to the media stipulated in the SPG Act although he’s no longer an active member. *“It wasn’t as if an official photographer would be present to chronicle a public event. Now, SPG personnel won’t be expected to click such pictures, and even if we assume for a moment that an onlooker or onlookers clicked them, it begs the question: how did the SPG allow anyone to breach the PM’s close proximity security? This itself indicates that there could be more to the episode than meets the eye*,*”* [emphasis added] he said.>> (Excerpted from: < https://www.nationalheraldindia.com/india/spgs-blue-book-covers-all-aspects-of-pms-security-more-to-punjab-episode-than-meets-the-eye-ex-spg-officer >.) X. The security threat, a visual glimpse: < https://twitter.com/Kisanektamorcha/status/1479323745458135041?t=xFnnNLwjx8t9nxtCnhPnLg&s=19 >. XI. *Samyukta Kisan Morcha Press Bulletin* 6 January 2022 *Statement of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha on the events related to the visit of the Prime Minister to Punjab on 5th January* 1. On receiving the news of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's proposed visit to Punjab on January 5, 10 farmer organizations affiliated to the Samyukta Kisan Morcha had announced a symbolic protest for the arrest of Ajay Mishra Teni and other outstanding demands. For this purpose, programs of protests and effigy burning were announced at village level across Punjab on January 2 and at district and tehsil headquarters on January 5. There was no program to stop the Prime Minister's visit or obstruct his program. 2. As per the pre-determined schedule, peaceful protests were held at every district and tehsil headquarters of Punjab on 5th January. When some farmers were stopped by the police administration from going to the district headquarters of Ferozepur, they protested by sitting on the road at many places. Of these, was that flyover of Pyarayana too where the Prime Minister's convoy came, stopped and went back. The farmers protesting there had no concrete information that the Prime Minister's convoy was going to pass through. They got this information from the media after the Prime Minister's return. 3. It is clear from the video of the occasion that the protesting farmers did not even make any effort to go towards the Prime Minister's convoy. Only a group with BJP flag and raising "Narendra Modi Zindabad" slogan had reached near that convoy. Therefore, the threat to the life of the Prime Minister seems completely concocted. 4. *It is a matter of great regret that to cover up the failure of his rally, the Prime Minister has tried to malign both the state of Punjab and the farmers' movement by using the pretext of "somehow his life was saved". The whole country knows that if there is a threat to life, then it is for the farmers, from the criminals like Ajay Mishra Teni becoming ministers and roaming freely. The Samyukta Kisan Morcha expects the Prime Minister of the country to not make such irresponsible statements keeping in mind the dignity of his post.* [Emphasis added.] *Issued by*- Balbir Singh Rajewal, Dr. Darshan Pal, Gurnam Singh Chaduni, Hannan Molla, Jagjit Singh Dallewal, Joginder Singh Ugrahan, Shivkumar Sharma (Kakka ji), Yudhveer Singh, Yogendra Yadav *Samyukta Kisan Morcha* Email: [email protected] XII. A Cartoon: < https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10227488664827426&id=1387786704 >. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/greenyouth/CACEsOZjputGm_ebX_o84dWovL2jj%3DbY7WP_nWRrizdyhBJYY_g%40mail.gmail.com.
