Captain Amarinder Singh issued a stern warning to the protesters
A tractor trolley carrying cow dung was on Friday unloaded in front of the house of a BJP leader in Punjab's Hoshiarpur, allegedly by a group that had been protesting the centre's three agriculture laws. Reacting to the incident, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh said that harassment of people in the name of protest cannot be allowed.
According to reports, a group, believed to be farmers protesting the laws, staged a protest outside the house of the former state minister and BJP leader, Tikshan Sud, in Hoshiarpur. They raised slogans against the centre. Some of them allegedly dumped cow dung in front of the leader's house.
The local police in a statement said that they had to intervene to prevent a clash between the supporters of the leader and the protesters.
Mr Sud later staged a sit-in protest demanding action against those responsible for throwing dung at his house.
Captain Singh issued a stern warning to the protesters, and said "invasion of privacy of people would bring a bad name to the peaceful agitation of the farmers and defeat its very objective".
"After months of showing exemplary restraint and not indulging in any violence or lawlessness in Punjab as well as at the borders of the national capital, some protesters are losing restraint despite being categorically asked by farmer leaders to keep the protests peaceful," Mr Singh said in a statement.
He also warned that such "attempts at forcible entry into the houses of any political functionaries, or picketing of their homes, had the dangerous potential of vitiating the atmosphere of peace and destroy the harmony amongst people of diverse castes, religions, communities etc, which was contrarian to the Punjabi spirit of harmony and unity".
Punjab BJP chief Ashwani Kumar Sharma also condemned the incident.
Last week, the police registered a case against unknown protesters. On Monday, protests were held against the district police for pressing "attempt to murder" charges in the FIR (First Information Reporters) registered against those involved in dumping cattle dung in front of BJP leaders' house.
Captain Singh on Wednesday called for the withdrawal of Section 307 and also ordered the transfer of the Station House Officer (SHO) who had registered the "attempt to murder" case. A special investigation team has been formed to probe the case.
Farmers from Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and several other states have been protesting the three laws for weeks. Several BJP leaders have been targetted by farmers recently over their demands.
Last month, a group of BJP leaders in Punjab's Phagwara had to slip out from the backdoor under police protection after farmers protesting the central government's new agricultural laws picketed a hotel that they were holding an event in.
With inputs from PTI