New Delhi: A day after Punjab’s Muktsar police arrested four farmers and booked 23 persons in connection with assault on BJP MLA Arun Narang in Malout, farmers staged a protest in the town on Monday and demanded the cancellation of first information reports (FIRs) lodged against farmers, as they claimed that the attack on Narang was actually stage-managed, according to the Indian Express.The farmers congregated at Bathinda Chowk in the morning on Monday, March 30, and staged protest demonstrations until 7:30 pm when the police arrived there and promised them a fair investigation into the matter after the farmers raised questions over the probe. Farmers said of the 23 who were booked, one of them was actually dead, leading to suspicion over the impartiality of the investigation.The protest disrupted traffic movement towards Muktsar, Bathinda, Abohar and Dabwali for nearly nine hours during the day. The protesters accused the BJP of subjecting them to “mental assault” for the past many months.Farmers leader Sukhdev Singh Buragujar, who is the Sidhupur district president of Bharatiya Kisan Union, said one of the arrested farmers had actually died three years ago and many of the farmers picked up were not even present at the protest site.Other farmers’ leaders accused the BJP of stage-managing the whole incident and pinning the blame on protesting farmers. They said they always protested in a peaceful manner, and do not encourage violence in their demonstrations.Also read: Punjab: Farmer Leaders Charged With Attempt to Murder After Protesters Assault BJP MLAMeanwhile, a delegation of five farmers met Muktsar SSP and other district police officials for talks on Monday afternoon yielding no results. However, the farmers had lifted their dharna at 7:30 pm after police convinced them of a fair investigation. The four arrested on Sunday were produced in court on Monday and were sent to judicial custody.Rajpal Singh Hundral, SP (investigations), Muktsar, said the investigation into the matter is underway and informed that there have been no further arrests.“As for the complaint that a dead farmer has been included in the FIR, we will investigate it. Farmers had staged dharna for the whole day but lifted it late in the evening. We assured them of fair investigation; their apprehensions were answered. We are not going to arrest anyone who was not present at the spot that day. Our investigation in the case of attempt to murder and assault of MLA is going on,” he was quoted as saying by the Indian Express.Meanwhile, the bandh call given by BJP in Malout evoked a tepid response, with a few markets partially shutting down. Many of the shopkeepers had told BJP workers, who went to markets to enforce bandh, to leave.BJP leaders in Punjab continue to face the wrath of farmers, as the protests against the contentious new farm laws entered their fourth month.On Saturday, Narang was allegedly hit and his shirt torn off by a group of farmers at Malout in Muktsar district. He had gone to Malout to address a press conference, which was strongly opposed by the farmers.Narang’s kurta-pyjama was reportedly ripped, and he claims a black liquid was thrown at him by the protesters.Also, BJP state vice-president Parveen Bansal was gheraoed by protesters in Barnala and had to remain inside the circuit house for some time.
