The BJP on Wednesday used the party’s win in Rajasthan’s rural local body polls to claim it as a mandate for the farm laws, seeking in the process to obliquely dub the ongoing protests as politically motivated.

Information and broadcasting minister Prakash Javadekar was fielded by the party as the Rajasthan panchayat poll results came, dealing a blow to the faction-ridden ruling Congress in the state.

“The Rajasthan victory in the local body polls is phenomenal for the BJP. The people, particularly farmers of rural areas, have given a decisive mandate for BJP, defeating the Congress with huge margins,” Javadekar said, stressing the party had won 14 of the 21 zilla parishads.

“This is a farmers’ mandate and a vote for the farm reforms.”

He refrained from commenting anything on the intensifying farmers’ protest. saying his focus was on highlighting the “meaning” of the Rajasthan panchayat polls.

Despite ground reports that farmers from many states had joined the protest, the BJP has been trying to dub it as only a show by farmers of Congress-ruled Punjab.

Javadekar went on to mention the local body poll results in Arunachal Pradesh, Hyderabad and the Bihar bypolls to claim it was “only BJP, BJP...,” in all directions.

“Be it east, south or north... wherever you go it’s BJP, BJP, BJP...,” he said, stressing that the people of the country were with Narendra Modi despite all the efforts of the Opposition to “mislead and instigate” the people.

The Arunachal Pradesh local body polls are still to be counted but Javadekar said the BJP had already won many seats unopposed as no one contested against the party’s nominee. In Hyderabad local polls early this month, he said, the BJP had won 49 of the 150 seats and polled more votes than the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samiti.

Javadekar sought to celebrate the people’s support for the BJP despite all-round gloom, claiming it was a reflection of the people’s faith in the leadership of Modi and rejection of the Congress and other Opposition parties.

“Despite corona, despite economic slowdown due to the pandemic, despite migration of labour and despite the instigation by Opposition parties and misinformation campaign against the farm reforms, people of India are standing behind the BJP and also for all reforms under the dynamic leadership of Narendra Modi,” he said.