COURTESY HT JAN 18

Farm stir, leadership crisis in state unit pose twin challenges for BJP
Smriti Kak Ramachandran

letters@hindustantimes.com

New Delhi : The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Punjab is facing the twin challenges of having to counter the opposition’s allegations that the new agricultural laws are anti-farmer and seek to benefit corporate entities and to ensure that the strife-ridden state unit works cohesively.

A section of farmers in Punjab and Haryana are protesting the farm laws. They are seeking a repeal of the three farm laws which they allege will hurt their incomes, erode their bargaining power and leave them at the mercy of agribusinesses.

According to functionaries aware of the details, the friction within the Punjab unit of the BJP has increased with many members seeking an overhaul that would include a new leadership. In January last year, Ashwani Sharma, a former legislator from Pathankot, was appointed president of state unit.

One senior state functionary who was in Delhi recently to meet party chief JP Nadda said the state unit has been “leaderless and faceless”. “For long the party has played second fiddle to the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD). The alliance did not allow the BJP to expand its footprint in the rural areas. Even when the party cadre wanted to break the alliance with the SAD, the central leadership did not respond. Now there is a leadership crisis and this has been conveyed to the top,” said the functionary, requesting anonymity.

SAD walked out of the NDA over the passage of the farm laws in September.

The person quoted above blamed the friction and groups within the state unit for allowing the farm agitation to drag on. “Initially two senior leaders, Surjit Kumar Jyani and Harjit Singh Grewal, were deputed to have meetings with the farmers to end the deadlock. A meeting scheduled almost two months ago between the agitating farm leaders and the union agriculture minister was cancelled at the last minute because of differences in state unit. This when Jyani was made chair of a five-member committee to talk to farmers,” the first functionary said. While Jyani could not be reached for a comment, Grewal declined to speak, but said the meetings aimed at apprising the central leaders of the situation on the ground.

A second functionary said the party’s expansion and consolidation in the state appears difficult in the absence of a “Sikh face” and leaders who have clout within the state’s scheduled caste population. “There is a need to have leaders in the forefront who have ties with the SC community. Other opposition parties have been wooing the SCs,” the second person said.

A third Delhi-based functionary said, “The field is now open to the extreme left and its impact will be seen particularly in Taran Taran, Amritsar in the Sangrur-Barnala belt...”

Professor Pramod Kumar, director of Chandigarh-based Institute for Development and Communication, said, “The party needs to clarify what is its vision, ideology, its economic and political agenda for the state. Bringing a face alone cannot absolve the party of its lack of agenda or vision,” he said.