Farmer leader Gurnam Singh Charuni, one of the faces who led the protests against the three contentious farm laws, got a rude shock as the results of the Haryana assembly elections were declared on Tuesday.
A leader of the Sanyukt Sangharsh Party, Charuni contested the election from Pehowa assembly constituency. But, he could muster only 1,170 votes and lost his deposit. The contest here was won by Mandeep Chatha of the Congress, who polled a total of 64,548 votes against his main opponent Jai Bhagwan Sharma of the BJP.
Proving all exit polls wrong, the BJP scripted a spectacular comeback for a record third term in the northern state, where the farmers’ agitation in 2020-21 and overall farm distress were considered as some of the major poll issues.
For Charuni, however, it was not only an excruciating defeat but also a loss of face, at least figuratively. He fought under the Sanyunkt Sangharsh Party banner, which he founded, but his vote tally turned out to be a complete antithesis of his public persona. Even candidates of the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) and Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) received more votes than him.
Who is the Gurnam Singh?
Gurnam Singh is the Haryana chief of the Bharatiya Kisan Union — one of the leading farmer unions that gave a call for the agitation against the three now-revoked farm laws. This is, however, not the first electoral disappointment for Charuni and his band of farmer leaders.
The party also tested the political waters during the Punjab assembly elections, but was not received with open arms. This year, the party decided to contest the Lok Sabha elections but did not end up doing so. On the contrary, it backed the INLD.
Interestingly, his wife, too, had a brush with electoral politics in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls when she contested on an Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) ticket. His election affidavit, a statutory requirement, states that he is a farmer and a commission agent dealing in the trade of farm produce.
But, Charuni is more of a misfit. When farmer organisations called for a peaceful sit-in at the Punjab-Haryana border, he gave a “war cry”, defied the plan, and instead pulled apart barricades in Ambala. This prompted the Samyukt Kisan Morcha to even issue a statement against him, saying his behaviour was “unauthorised”.
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