Blockade by farmers irks Guru Ravidas followers

Deepkamal Kaur

Jalandhar, February 19

The Scheduled Caste community is perturbed over the issue of blockage of railway tracks and highways by farmers as they are to leave for the Guru Ravidas Jayanti programme to be held at Sri Guru Ravidas Janam Asthan Mandir in Seer Goverdhanpur, Varanasi, on February 24.

PM to visit Guru Ravidas’s birthplace on Feb 23

• BJP leader Vijay Sampla said Prime Minister Narendra Modi would visit the birth place of Guru Ravidas a day before the Gurpurb and he would accompany him
• CM Bhagwant Mann had flagged off the special train to Varanasi from Jalandhar. He along with Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal is expected to fly to the holy city on February 24 to attend the programme.

A special train for Varanasi is to leave from Jalandhar Cantonment railway station on February 21 and Dera Sachkhand Ballan chief Sant Niranjan Dass and over a thousand followers are expected to board it.

Followers of the dera have been demanding that the road and rail routes should be cleared for the devotees by the farmers.

While Dera Ballan functionaries have already been making an appeal in this regard, Sadhu Sampradai head Kulwant Ram Bharomajra too has appealed to the farmers to ensure that the devotees, who are heading to Varanasi, should be given a safe passage.

There have been reports that a train of devotees to Varanasi had left from Jalandhar but had been halted by the protesting farmers three days back.

Several SC leaders said there had been apprehensions among people. “No one going with family wants to be at any risk. Since board examinations have also been preponed because of the Lok Sabha elections, this too may have an effect,” said a prominent Dalit leader of the Akali Dal.

Ex-Union MoS and BJP leader Vijay Sampla said, “The devotees to Varanasi, who travel by car and vehicles, are being forced to take a longer route and are getting harassed because of the ongoing protest”.

Upon appeal from the community, Balbir Rajewal, president of the BKU (Rajewal), took to social media today and released a video saying that the farmers would ensure that the Dalit community did not face any hindrance by train or road.