PM Modi Canceled Ferozepur Rally After Farmers Block Road

Farmer Protest: Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Punjab visit was cut short yesterday as he was trapped on a flyover at Piareana village on the Ferozepur-Moga route for nearly 20 minutes owing to a farmer blockade. 

The Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has requested a thorough report from the state administration, requesting that responsibility be established and that those guilty be held accountable. 

"Today's Congress-made happening in Punjab is a teaser of how this party thinks and acts," Home Minister Amit Shah tweeted. People's repeated rejections have pushed them to the brink of madness. The Congress's upper echelons need an apology to the Indian people." "Such a breach of security during the Prime Minister's visit is completely unacceptable, and culpability will be addressed," he continued. The Prime Minister is said to have arrived in Bathinda this morning, from where he had to fly to Hussainiwala to visit the National Martyrs Memorial. Because his helicopter was unable to take off due to bad weather, he began his journey to Ferozepur by road. 

Around 200 protestors stopped the road as the PM's convoy arrived at Piareana village, where Ferozepur DIG Inderbir Singh and SSP Harmandeep Singh Hans were waiting to greet him. The PM's cavalcade stayed delayed there for 15-20 minutes. 

Meanwhile, announcements were made from a neighbouring gurdwara owing to which additional farmers visited the spot and the situation grew tense. SPG sleuths then opted to escort the PM to Bathinda, fearing that if the demonstrators stopped the opposite side of the flyover as well, he would be stuck. 

The Prime Minister afterwards returned to Bathinda and then to Delhi. DIG Inderbir Singh, described the incident as a "flashmob" of roughly 100 farmers who gathered at the scene and blocked the road. 

"Buses carrying BJP members were held at Harike Pattan, Moga, Tarn Taran, Abohar, Malout, and Kotkapura," state BJP head Ashwani Sharma stated, demanding CM Channi's resignation over the issue. In the presence of police officers, party workers were also attacked in several instances." 

According to the Ministry of Home Affairs, the PM's itinerary and travel plans were notified to the Punjab Government well in advance, and they were required to make adequate logistics, security, and contingency plans as per procedure. An alternate route was to be kept available, according to the process, for which the state government required to assure road clearance and security personnel deployment, an official said.