The lacklustre performance of BJP in the agrarian belt of Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh is being attributed to the rising disappointment amongst the farming communities
The Lok Sabha election results are contrary to what poll analysts had predicted. This is especially true in the leading agrarian states of Punjab, Haryana and the western part of Uttar Pradesh. The incumbent Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has suffered major losses in the region leading to its inability to reach the majority mark in the Lok Sabha.
These election results are being perceived as a result of the angst in the aftermath of the historic farmer protests that lasted for a year around the national capital’s periphery between August 9, 2020 to December 2021.
The protests were successful in getting the controversial farm laws repealed. These laws were ushered in by the BJP government with the official rationale to make farming a profitable prospect. The farmers however alleged it to be an attempt to privatise agriculture and enable cronies to profit.
In the protests, hundreds of farmers lost their lives due to a variety of reasons such as police action, cold weather and clashes. Rakesh Tikait, the leader of Bhartiya Kisan Union claimed that almost 700 farmers lost their lives during the protests.
Ouster from Punjab
It was the farmers from Punjab who spearheaded the protests in Delhi. Hence, the electoral performance of the BJP in the state was expected to be impacted but not to an extent as it turned out to be. In the last Lok Sabha polls, BJP had bagged a couple of seats in Punjab from Gurdaspur and Hoshiarpur. This time, however, it hasn’t been able to secure even a single seat out of the total 13.
The unpopular appeal of the BJP in Punjab can be gauged from the fact that its candidates faced protests ever since the poll campaigning began in the state. Such was the aversion for the BJP that several villages even denied entry to its representatives as they attempted to canvass for votes.
Far from the farms in the rural hinterland, there was some hope that BJP could garner popular support in the urban areas but it couldn’t amount to electoral success in any of the constituencies in the state.
Major shuffle in Haryana
The retreat of the BJP in Haryana is akin to Punjab. In the last Lok Sabha polls, the saffron party had made a clean sweep in the state—bagging all the 10 seats. However, this time, it could manage to win only five seats. Next to Punjab, farmers from Haryana had the most vigorous participation in the protests of 2020-21.
Similar to Punjab, the rural population in Haryana didn’t let BJP candidates enter the villages to campaign for votes.
It is important to mention that right on the heels of the Lok Sabha elections, thousands of farmers from Haryana marched on the borders of the national capital in February to remind the Central government of its unkept promises. However, sensing trouble, the Haryana government undertook resolute measures to contain the unrest and the farmers were stopped from crossing the Shambhu border. Some of the groups of the farmers are still stationed at Shambhu and they also toured the villages in Haryana to campaign against the BJP in the prelude to elections.
Winds of change in western UP
While the farmers from Punjab and Haryana led the charge of protests on Delhi’s western borders, it was the farming community from Uttar Pradesh’s western districts which took the reins of protests on Delhi’s eastern border.
Interestingly, after the Centre repealed the farm laws, the electoral performance of the BJP in the western districts during the 2022 assembly elections was remarkable. In contrast, it failed to repeat the assembly polls’ success in the Lok Sabha elections. Muzaffarnagar, a major sugarcane producing district, witnessed an astounding defeat for the BJP. Sanjeev Balyan, a Union Minister and a popular regional leader, failed to win the seat and lost the elections by more than 24,000 seats.
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