Farmers gherao BJP leaders in hotel in Punjab's Phagwara
Phagwara: Bharti Kisan Union (Doaba) activists on Friday gheraoed local BJP leaders who had gathered at a hotel here to observe the birth anniversary of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, forcing them to slip out from the backdoor under police protection.
The protesters claimed that the hotel was owned by a BJP activist who also ran a company supplying cattle and chicken feed. They said they will boycott the company's products.
Led by Union's vice president Kirpal Singh Mussapur, a number of activists held a protest outside the hotel and gheraoed those BJP leaders and workers who had managed to get inside before farmers started their demonstration.
The protesters also did not allow several BJP activists, including Bharati Sharma, district president of BJP's Mahila Wing, to go inside the hotel, police said.
Those who had gone inside had to slip one by one from the hotel's backdoor under police protection in order to save themselves from the wrath of the protesters, police said.
They included BJP district and block presidents Rakesh Duggal and Paramjit Singh Pamma Chachoki and former Mayor Arun Khosla.
Mussapur alleged that BJP's programme and anti-farmers' propaganda were being done under the garb of Vajpayee Jayanti celebration.
He said 'kisans', 'mazdoors' (farm labours) and 'mulazams' (employees) will boycott the hotel and the company's products.
The protesters raised slogans against the Narendra Modi government and Union minister Som Parkash.
Protesters hoisted the BKU flag on a pole outside the hotel, warning it's owner that if the flag was removed or any BJP function was allowed at the hotel in future, farmers will 'gherao' both the hotel and the company along national highway.
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
