Amit Shah's Haryana Rally Cancelled After Poor Weather Forces Chopper To Remain Grounded

Amit Shah's rally in Gohana was cancelled as his chopper didn't get permission to take off as well as land due to bad weather conditions.

File photo of Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

Source : Getty

Union Home Minister Amit Shah's public rally in Haryana's Gohana, in the Sonipat district, was called off on Sunday as his chopper did not get permission to take off due to poor weather. Earlier in the day, the police were on high alert at the rally site as a warning was issued due to protests. A sarpanch association had called for a blockade of highways in the state for six hours.

The development was a reminder of the protests by farmers' unions ahead of PM Narendra Modi's rally in neighbouring Punjab in January last year. The Prime Minister was going to address a poll campaign in Punjab when a security breach took place after farmers blocked a highway, leaving the PM's convoy stranded on a bridge.'

Wednesday's blockade was to remain in place for six hours, according to a statement made on Saturday by the Haryana Pradesh Sarpanch Association.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah's public rally in Gohana, Sonipat district of Haryana has been cancelled after his chopper did not get permission to take off and land due to bad weather conditions.

(file photo) pic.twitter.com/JBpUC1vbDb

— ANI (@ANI) January 29, 2023

Former AAP president for Haryana Navin Jaihind, a political activist, offered a prize of Rs 1 lakh to any Opposition party leader who would oppose Shah's public meeting at the location in Gohana, Sonipat. 

Jaihind also announced a protest march at the same time its workers against the rally from Rohtak to Gohana. Considering the strong resistance they will face, the local BJP leadership may have a difficult time getting many people to attend the rally.

Sarpanches have been protesting against the state government's e-tendering system, which limits the authority of village chiefs to spend money, as well as the implementation of the Right to Recall Act in panchayats. The Haryana Pradesh Sarpanch Association had a meeting on Saturday in Jassia village and said that it had agreed that all heads of villages will block roads in their respective villages from 7am to 1pm to keep people from attending the Gohana rally. Some villages around Gohana, according to the association's secretary Vikas Khatri, would have taken part in the rally and registered their protest there to make their demands known.

Khatri said, "If we are stopped from entering the Amit Shah rally, we would sit there and block the roads at the same spot."