Farmer leader Balbir Singh Rajewal
Credit: PTI Photo
Chandigarh: Farmer leader Balbir Singh Rajewal on Tuesday said farmers will show black flags to Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he visits Punjab for poll campaigning.
A decision in this regard was taken at a rally organised by the Samyukta Kisan Morcha in Jagraon in the Ludhiana district.
Modi will start his poll campaign in the state by holding his first rally in Patiala on May 23. He will also address rallies in Gurdaspur and Jalandhar on May 24.
From the Patiala parliamentary constituency, the BJP has fielded four-time MP Preneet Kaur. BJP's Sushil Rinku is a candidate from Jalandhar while the saffron party has fielded former MLA Dinesh Babbu from the Gurdaspur constituency.
Speaking to reporters after the rally in Jagraon on Tuesday, Rajewal said, "We have today decided that when Modi comes to Punjab, we will hold a protest against him by showing black flags."
Rajewal said farmers have been opposing BJP leaders ever since the Lok Sabha elections were announced.
"Modi's policies are pro-corporate," Rajewal alleged.
Farmer leaders, however, claimed that their protest would be peaceful.
During the rally, farmer leaders claimed that the BJP government had promised that farmers' income would be doubled.
They slammed the government at the Centre for not fulfilling their demands of framing a law on minimum support price, and implementation of the Swaminathan commission report.
BJP candidates in Punjab are facing protests from farmers during poll campaigning for the Lok Sabha polls.
As part of the protests, the farmers ask questions to the BJP leaders and show them black flags for not agreeing to their demands.
Farmers owing allegiance to various farm outfits are upset with the BJP-led Centre for not accepting their demands including a law on minimum support price.
They were also upset over not being allowed to head towards Delhi, forcing them to camp at Shambhu and Khanauri border points of Punjab and Haryana.
The SKM (Non-Political) and Kisan Mazdoor Morcha are spearheading the 'Delhi Chalo' march by farmers to press the government to accept their demands which include that the Centre should give a legal guarantee of Minimum Support Price (MSP) for crops.
Polling for the 13 Lok Sabha seats in Punjab will be held on June 1.