News Analysis India

Tag: Bharatiya Kisan Union

  • Farm laws: Rakesh Tikait to hold rally in Madhya Pradesh’s Sheopur on Monday

    By PTI
    BHOPAL: Bharatiya Kisan Union leader Rakesh Singh Tikait will address three rallies in Madhya Pradesh from Monday to drum up support for his protest against the Centre’s three agri marketing laws, a functionary of his outfit said.

    The rallies will be held in Sheopur on Monday, in Rewa on March 14 and in Jabalpur the next day, and a decision would be taken later on holding more rallies in the state, said BKU MP general secretary Anil Yadav.

    Yadav told PTI Tikait will be touring MP, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Karnataka and Telangana to interact with farmers and widen the protests against the Centre’s new laws.

    Incidentally, there is an arrest warrant pending against Tikait in connection with a 2012 attempt to murder and rioting case in the state’s Anuppur district, said police officials.

    Tikait had led a BKU protest against a power plant in Jaithari area, which turned violent, leading to injuries to policemen and torching of vehicles, they added.

    Over 100 people, including Tikait, were arrested under sections 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting with armed weapon), 149 (unlawful assembly), 307 (attempt to murder) of the IPC, an official said.

    “However, after being released on bail in 2012, Tikait failed to appear before court for subsequent hearings, after which an arrest warrant was issued against him in 2016. We will take necessary action on the arrest warrant,” Anuppur Superintendent of Police Mangilal Solanki said.

  • Rakesh Tikait asserts farmer protest to continue for long

    By ANI
    GHAZIPUR: Amid the ongoing protest against the new farm laws, Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rakesh Tikait on Thursday said the agitation will continue for long.

    “We will continue our protest until the government agrees to talk to the committee. We are here for long,” said Tikait.

    “There must be a minimum and maximum rate for crops in the country,” he added.

    While the Assembly polls of the legislative assemblies of four states — West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Assam — will start from May, farmers will also participate in the political rallies said Tikait.

    Farmers have been protesting on the different borders of the national capital since November 26 against the three newly enacted farm laws – Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020; the Farmers Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and farm Services Act 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020. 

  • Rakesh Tikait to tour five states in March to drum up support for farmers’ protest

    By PTI
    GHAZIABAD: Farmer leader Rakesh Tikait will be touring five states in March to drum up support for the ongoing farmers’ protest against Centre’s new agriculture laws, a Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) office-bearer said on Saturday.

    Tikait, the national spokesperson of the BKU and a prominent face of the farmers’ protest, will begin the tour from March 1, the office-bearer said.

    “Farmers’ meetings will be held in Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Telangana, while two meetings will also be held in Uttar Pradesh in March,” BKU media in-charge Dharmendra Malik said.

    Two meetings will be held in Rajasthan and three in Madhya Pradesh.

    The last three meetings will be held on March 20, 21 and 22 in Karnataka, Malik said.

    “One event is scheduled on March 6 in Telangana, but we have not got permission for it yet due to some election in the state. If permission is granted, the meeting in Telangana will be held as per schedule,” he told PTI.

    Thousands of farmers are camping at Delhi’s border points at Tikri, Singhu and Ghazipur since November with a demand that the Centre should repeal the contentious farm laws enacted in September last year and frame a new one guaranteeing the minimum support price (MSP) on crops.

    Tikait is leading the protest at Ghazipur.

    The government, which has held 11 rounds of formal talks with the protesting farm unions, maintains that the laws are pro-farmer.

  • Rajnath Singh a ‘caged parrot’ in Modi govt, says BKU chief Naresh Tikait

    Express News Service
    LUCKNOW: The leader of Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) Naresh Tikait on Wednesday said if Defence Minister Rajnath Singh is given a free hand, the farmers’ issue would be resolved in a minute.

    This is Singh as a ‘caged parrot’ in the Modi government.

    Expanding the base of the protest which had so far been relegated only to western UP, to the eastern and central region of the state, BKU held a Kisan Mahapanchayat at Barabanki, just 40 km away from Lucknow, on Wednesday.

    “I guarantee that the impasse will end in a minute if Defence Minister Rajnath Singh is given a free hand to hold talks with us. But this government is rigid and obstinate. It has made him a ‘caged parrot’. The government should change its attitude and listen to the voices of agitating farmers to repeal new farmlaws,” Tikait said in his address to the farmers.

    ALSO READ | Government ready to talk with farmers on three laws after unions’ response on its offer: Tomar

    Claiming that Barabanki was the gateway to Purvanchal (east UP), Tikait said it was important to make the farmers of central and eastern UP aware of the shortcomings of the new farm laws. The BKU president announced that the union would hold Kisan Mahapanchayats across eastern UP to unite farmers and continue their stir till the three farm laws were repealed. “If the government is not willing to withdraw these laws, then we will also continue our agitation,” he declared.

    Tikait claimed that Union Minister Dr Sanjeev Balyane was also feeling suffocated in the Modi government and unable to express his feelings he has for the agitating farmers. “We voted for the BJP government but now the same government is not with us. Instead, they are out to ruin us,” he fumed.

    If this government continued in power, then farmers would be left with no choice but to sell their lands. “Farmers are not getting MSP. Prices of electricity, diesel and petrol are spiralling. In such a situation, our survival is at stake. The government must change its attitude and withdraw the new laws,” he said.

  • Haryana BKU leader Jastej Singh escapes unhurt as bike-borne assailants open fire

    By PTI
    KURUKHESTRA: Bharatiya Kisan Union’s Haryana General Secretary Jastej Singh Sandhu escaped unhurt Monday after two motorcycle-borne assailants opened fire at him when he was going to meet protesting farmers here, police said.

    The 45-year-old farmer leader, the elder son of former Haryana agriculture Minister late Jasvinder Sandhu, was going towards a toll plaza near Pehowa when the incident happened, Deputy Superintendent of Police Gurmail Singh said.

    Two motorcycle-borne assailants overtook his car, which he was driving, and one of them fired upon him from a close range, said the DSP, adding the shot came through the glass of the driver’s seat and passed through the windscreen, missing the target.

    He said the car has been taken into custody and a forensic team has inspected the vehicle.

    Police are investigating the case, he said.

    ALSO READ | Farm laws: Tikait to address rallies in Madhya Pradesh on March 8, says BKU

    Jastej Singh later told the media that he was going to the toll plaza near Pehowa, as he has been doing routinely, to meet the farmers camping there for the past many days as part of a ‘dharna’ against the three new Central farm laws.

    He said the two youths on the motorcycle chased his car and fired at him with the intention to kill.

    He added the shot missed him and passed through the windscreen.

  • Farm laws: Tikait to address rallies in Madhya Pradesh on March 8, says BKU

    By PTI
    BHOPAL: Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rakesh Singh Tikait will address rallies on March 8 in Madhya Pradesh to drum up support against the Centre’s new farm laws, a functionary of his outfit said on Monday.

    He will address farmer rallies in Sheopur, Rewa and Dewas on March 8, MP BKU general secretary Anil Yadav told PTI.

    Incidentally, there is an arrest warrant pending against Tikait in connection with a 2012 attempt to murder and rioting case in the state’s Anuppur district, said police officials.

    Tikait had led a BKU protest against a power plant in Jaithari area, which turned violent, leading to injuries to policemen and torching of vehicles, they added.

    Over 100 people, including Tikait, were arrested under sections 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting with armed weapon), 149 (unlawful assembly), 307 (attempt to murder) of the IPC, an official said.

    “However, after being released on bail in 2012, Tikait failed to appear before court for subsequent hearings, after which an arrest warrant was issued against him in 2016. We will take necessary action on the arrest warrant,” Anuppur Superintendent of Police Mangilal Solanki said.

  • Will soon visit Gujarat to mobilise support for farmers’ protest: Tikait

    The BKU national spokesperson also claimed that farmers will eventually not be able to take any part of their farm produce because the new laws will favour only the corporations.

  • Rail roko will be peaceful, will not join politics: Bharatiya Kisan Union leader Rakesh Tikait

    By ANI
    GHAZIABAD: Bharatiya Kisan Union leader Rakesh Tikait on Thursday said that ‘rail roko’, the blockade of trains as part of protests against farm laws, will be done in a peaceful manner and food and refreshments provided to people stranded due to the protest. He also stated that he will not join politics as he considers it “a big disease”.

    “Rail roko protest will begin at 12 pm and go on till 3-4 pm. Trains are not plying anyway. It’ll be done peacefully. We’ll provide water, milk, lassi and fruits to people who are stranded. We will inform them about our issues,” he said.

    “Today we have two rallies in Hisar and I am going there. I am going to a rally in Mumbai tomorrow. We will hold rallies all over the country. Farmers are suffering everywhere. The only way to get rid of the problems is to give legal backing to MSP,” he said.

    He also condemned the violence that happened at Red Fort on January 26 and said that Bharatiya Kisan Union has no connection with those responsible.

    Speaking about his upcoming visit to West Bengal and the extension of the agitation to West Bengal, he said: “We will talk to farmers there. Their crops are not being sold at MSP. We have got nothing to do with elections.”

    He dismissed any possibility of him entering the political arena. “Politics is a big disease, I will stay away from it,” he said. In view of the protest, Railways has deployed 20 additional companies of the Railway Protection Special Force across the country with a focus on Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.

    Farmers have been protesting at the different borders of the national capital since November last year, against the three newly enacted farm laws – Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020; the Farmers Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and farm Services Act 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.

  • Won’t let Centre sit in peace till farmers’ demands met: BKU leader Rakesh Tikait

    By PTI
    KARNAL: Upping the ante against the government, Bharatiya Kisan Union leader Rakesh Tikait on Sunday said they won’t let it sit in peace till the farmers’ demands are met.

    Addressing a farmers’ “mahapanchayat” at the Indri grain market in the district, Tikait said the 40 leaders spearheading the agitation against the Centre’s farm laws will tour the entire country to drum up support for the stir.

    “Till the time the government does not decide in our favour, talks to the committee (spearheading the agitation) and does not agree to the demands, we won’t let it sit in peace,” Tikait said, demanding the repeal of the laws.

    He reiterated that the Centre’s farm laws “will finish the public distribution system.”

    The laws will not only impact farmers but also small traders, daily wagers and other sections, he said.

    Questioning the government’s intention behind bringing the laws, Tikait said, “Godowns were built first and the laws came later.

    Don’t farmers know these laws are in favour of big corporates? Business on hunger will not be allowed in this country.”

    Tikait reiterated that the “panch” (leaders spearheading the stir) and the “manch” (stage) will remain the same.

    ALSO READ | Indian diaspora groups in US launch rose campaign in support of protesting farmers 

    He asserted that Singhu border protest site will remain central to the ongoing farmers’ stir and not the Ghazipur border.

    The BKU leader from Uttar Pradesh has been camping at Ghazipur on the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border for over two months against the contentious agri laws passsed in Parliament in September.

    Without naming anyone, he said, “They are repeatedly saying Ghazipur border will be the office (main protest site) instead of Singhu border.

    But I said the government or any official should not be under any false impression, we will neither change the ‘manch’ nor the ‘Panch’,” Tikait said.

    “Whatever decisions are taken by the committee are acceptable to all.

    Farmers of the country stand behind it,” he said, adding they will keep raising issues of farmers and fight for their rights.

    Apart from Tikait, farmer leaders Balbir Singh Rajewal, Darshan Pal and Haryana BKU chief Gurnam Singh Chaduni were also present on the occasion.

    Rajewal said farmers have been protesting for months but the government is not listening to their demands, while Pal claimed that over 200 farmers have sacrificed their lives during the agitation.

    “Their sacrifice will not go in vain,” he said.

    Various speakers also slammed Haryana Agriculture Minister J P Dalal over his “insensitive remark” on farmers who have died during the agitation.

    Dalal on Saturday said they would have died even if they had stayed back home.

    The minister had, however, claimed that ‘wrong meaning’ was made out of his remarks.

    He added, “If anybody is hurt by it, I tender my apology”.

    Dalal had also said he would continue to work for farmers’ welfare.

  • BKU leader Rakesh Tikait to join seven ‘mahapanchayats’ in three states starting February 14

    By PTI
    GHAZIABAD: Beginning Sunday, Bharatiya Kisan Union leader Rakesh Tikait would be attending seven farmers’ meetings planned across Haryana, Maharashtra and Rajasthan to garner support for the ongoing stir against the new farm laws.

    These farmers’ meetings, which will culminate on February 23, are part of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha’s outreach programme, BKU’s media in-charge Dharmendra Malik said.

    ALSO READ | PM Modi wants to clear path for his friends: Rahul Gandhi on farm laws

    These “kisan mahapanchayat” are scheduled to be held in Haryana’s Karnal, Rohtak, Sirsa and Hisar districts, and Maharashtra’s Akola and Rajasthan’s Sikar, he said.

    Thousands of farmers are encamped at Delhi’s border points of Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur since November with a demand that the Centre repeal the three farm laws enacted in September and make a new law to guarantee minimum support price (MSP) for crops.

    The government, which has held 11 rounds of talks with the protesting farmers unions, has, however, maintained that the laws are pro-farmer.

    Tikait, the national spokesperson of the BKU, has been leading the protestors at Ghazipur on the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border and said the farmers won’t end their movement until their demands are not met.