Officer said PM is on his way, we thought he was bluffing: Farmer leader

A farmer leader on Thursday said that when the senior superintendent of police in Ferozepur asked the protesting farmers to vacate the road saying that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was on his way to a rally, they thought the officer was “bluffing”.

Bhartiya Kisan Union (Krantikari) chief Surjit Singh Phool told reporters: “SSP Ferozepur asked us to vacate the road saying that the prime minister was going to the rally venue by road. We thought he was bluffing.”

Modi’s visit to Ferozepur, Punjab, was called off following the security lapse. The PM, who was scheduled to fly to the venue, was forced to travel by road because of bad weather. But his retinue got stuck on a flyover for 15-20 minutes because the route was blocked by protestors, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said. The MHA has now sought a report from the state government.

The BJP has blamed the ruling Congress government for sabotaging the PM’s programme and for the security lapse.

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Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi, however, denied the allegations.

“We asked them [the PMO] to discontinue the visit due to bad weather conditions and protests. We had no information of his sudden route change. There was no security lapse during the PM’s visit,” Channi said on Wednesday.

Former Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh has sought Channi’s resignation, saying the Punjab government could not provide smooth passage to the prime minister of the country, that too just 10 kilometres from the Pakistan border.