News Analysis India

Tag: Bharatiya Kisan Union

  • Rakesh Tikait address ‘mahapanchayat’ at Kurukshetra, criticises PM Narendra Modi’s remark on protesters

    By PTI
    KURUKSHETRA: Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rakesh Tikait Tuesday criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Andolan-jivi’ (professional protestors) remarks and asked if people like great freedom fighter Bhagat Singh will also be put in that category.

    Addressing a well-attended ‘Kisan Mahapanchayat’ at Gumthala Garhu village in Pehowa in this district, a third within a week in Haryana, he said the government should not be under the wrong impression that the protesting farmers will return to their homes without their demands being accepted.

    Without naming the Prime Minister or using his ‘Andolan-jivi’ phrase, Tikait said, “In Parliament, they are saying these are parjivis (parasites). Was Bhagat Singh who sacrificed his life for this nation a parjivi? What about 150 farmers who died during this agitation? Were they parjivis too? Had they gone to Delhi to agitate and die?”

    ALSO READ: PM Narendra Modi should ask MPs, MLAs to give up pension, use funds to support youth, says Rakesh Tikait

    Speaking in Rajya Sabha on Monday, the prime minister had hit out at those behind the farmers’ protests, saying a new “breed” of agitators called “Andolan jivi” has emerged in the country who cannot live without an agitation and the nation should guard against them.

    Kurukshetra is a land of ‘kranti’ (revolution) and ‘nyay’ (justice) and that is why the ‘mahapanchayat’ is being held here to get justice for the farmers, he said.

    Tikait also alleged that attempts were being made to divide the protesting farmers on the lines of region and other considerations, and appealed them to reject any such design.

    “They will try to divide you on Punjab-Haryana lines, as Sikh and non-Sikh, Hindus and Muslims..,” he alleged.

    ALSO READ: No ‘ghar wapsi’ till farmers’ demands are met, says BKU leader Rakesh Tikait

    “The farmers’ agitation against the Centre’s farm laws is nationwide and not limited to Punjab or Haryana.”

    “We will win this fight,” he declared.

    Projecting the 40 farmers unions spearheading the agitation as fully united, he said, “We have said we will neither change ‘Panch’ (leader) nor ‘Manch’ (stage).”

    “We have always said that if government has to talk there are 40 representatives they can talk to them, whatever these unions decide will be acceptable to us,” he said.

    Tikait said the protesting farmers will divide their time between home, fields and the agitation.

    Every farmer’s family, he said, is required to participate in the stir by sending at least one person at the Delhi border protest sites while other members would continue to work in their fields.

    ALSO READ: Ready to take agitation across the nation, says Rakesh Tikait

    He said the protesters are prepared for a long struggle to get the three laws repealed and would visit other states like Maharashtra, West Bengal, Karnataka and Odisha to garner farmers’ support for their struggle.

    He said that a farmer does not transfer his agriculture land to even his son during his lifetime, how he can give it to the corporates.

    The BKU leader from Uttar Pradesh has been camping at Ghazipur on the Delhi-UP border as part of a campaign by farmer unions against the central laws enacted in September.

    “Over the past two days, they have brought this new issue of small farmers, saying this (agitation) is not fight of small farmers but that of big farmers who are coming in tractors,” he said, attacking the Centre.

    He appealed to the farmers to not be misled by such things.

    ALSO READ: At Singhu border, Rakesh Tikait’s cutouts, posters and badges of farmers stir draw crowd

    He claimed farmers have come under debt “due to wrong policies of the government”.

    He reiterated that the protesters demanding the rollback of the contentious agri-marketing laws will stay on Delhi’s borders till October 2 and there will not be any compromise on the demands.

    “Those occupying the seats of power, their purpose is something else…We don’t have to fall in their trap. We have to concentrate on our agitation. No business over hunger will not be allowed in this country,” he said.

    Rejecting the Centre’s assertions that farm laws were in the interests of farmers, Tikait claimed these legislations will adversely impact not just farmers but other sections too.

    “The PDS system will be finished, the poor will be impacted. Small traders will be finished, small businesses will be finished and farmers will be destroyed. Only malls and godowns will survive,” he said.

    Tikait also said while salaries of MPs, MLAs have increased by up to 500 percent over the years, rates of farmers crops have gone up by only 19-23 percent.

    Meanwhile, singer Rupinder Handa, who was also present at the event, announced to return the ‘Lok Gayika Puraskar’ award given to her by the Haryana government four years ago to protest alleged apathetic attitude of the ruling dispensation towards farmers’ demands.

    “Internet was suspended, farmers are not being supported. The government which did not respect farmers, I thought there is no point in keeping this award,” Handa told reporters later.

    Thousands of farmers have been protesting against the three farm sector reform laws enacted by the Centre in September last year.

    The Centre has been saying these laws will bring in new farming technologies and free the farmers from the clutches of middlemen.

    The farmers have been rejecting these claims, saying these laws will harm their interest.

  • Farmers reach Haryana’s Jind to participate in ‘kisan mahapanchayat’

    By ANI
    JIND (HARYANA): A large gathering of farmers on Wednesday was seen assembling at Kandela village sports stadium to participate in the “kisan mahapanchayat” that is underway in Haryana’s Jind.

    The “kisan mahapanchayat” has been organised by the Haryana khap where Bharatiya Kisan Union (Arajnaitik) leader Rakesh Tikait and several other leaders of various farmer unions are slated to address the gathering.

    Speaking about the event, Ram Mehar, the son of Gram Pradhan told ANI, “This is the first “Kisan mahapanchayat” in Haryana. The further direction of the farmers’ movement, next course of action and other related decisions shall be taken in the presence of the heads of various Khap Panchayats. Khaps from across Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Delhi, and Jatthedars from Punjab have are scheduled to participate.”

    Talking to ANI at the event, village pradhan Tekram demanded the immediate repeal of the three new laws, enactment of a law guaranteeing minimum support price (MSP), and implementation of the Swaminathan report.

    “The three new laws should be immediately taken back, a law guaranteeing minimum support price (MSP) should be enacted and Swaminathan report should be implemented in a full-fledged manner,” said the village pradhan.

    He further stated, “In view of the poor financial condition of the farmers, the government should wave off farmers’ loans and our 200 to 300 men who have been detained should be released with immediate effect.”

    He also requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to personally hold talks with the farmer union leaders and resolve the issue as soon as possible.

    Earlier today, Rakesh Tikait has said that his main aim behind conducting panchayats is to visit villages and gather their support. Such panchayats will be held across the country until the government accepts their demands, Tikait has said on Wednesday.

    Tikait had also stated that if the government does not fulfill their demands, they will organise a gathering of 40 lakh tractors and take out ‘yatras’ across the country to protest against the government over the recently enacted farm laws.

    Meanwhile, security has been beefed up at Delhi’s Ghazipur, Singhu and Tikri borders in view of the farmers’ stir.

    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.  

  • Bharatiya Kisan Union’s Digamber Singh slams parties trying to usurp farmers’ stir platform

    By PTI
    BIJNOR: Bharatiya Kisan Union (Youth) president Digamber Singh on Tuesday accused political parties of trying to usurp the platform of farmers’ agitation against the three central laws to spoil the atmosphere of peaceful protests.

    Singh made the allegation amid BKU’s senior leader Rakesh Tikait, camping at Ghazipur’s Uttar Pradesh Gate on Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border, asserting that farmers’ protest is apolitical and no politician has been given the mic or space on farmers’ stage.

    Tikait made the assertion after an off-the-stage meeting with Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut at the farmers’ protest site at Ghazipur.

    The president of BKU (Youth), which organised a Kisan Samman Mahapanchayat on Monday in Bijnor, told PTI, “The movement going on Delhi borders is only by the farmers but the leaders of political parties want to usurp the platform by creating pressure through their supporters.On Monday too, due to a noisy protest by a group of people present in the crowd, one of their leaders had to be called on the stage of the Mahapanchayat to handle the situation.”

    “A prominent opposition leader in Uttar Pradesh had asked for permission to attend the Kisan Samman Mahapanchayat held in Bijnor on Monday but was flatly denied,” he said, adding “the atmosphere is getting worse”.

    While generally keeping political parties away from the farmer agitation, the BKU (Y) on Monday had allowed RLD leader Jayant Chaudhary on its Kisan Samman Mahapanchayat platform in Bijnor.

  • Farmers protest: Despite increasing number of barricades thousands converge at Delhi borders

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Despite an increasing number of barricades, thousands of farmers have been converging at Ghazipur on the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border following a tearful Bharatiya Kisan Union leader Rakesh Tikait’s impassioned appeal to protesters to bolster the stir.

    The tide of the over two-month protest against the farm laws, which had lost its sheen after the violence in Delhi during the tractors parade on Republic day, appears to have regained momentum as is evident from the increased number of tents set up at the protest site.

    Many protesters waited for hours to talk to Tikait or take a selfie with him as the farmer leader remained busy meeting his supporters and talking to the media.

    A Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) member said Tikait has been sleeping only for around three hours a day for the last three days.

    “He had complained of blood pressure issues, but is doing fine now,” the member said.

    Shiromani Akal Dal chief Sukhbir Singh Badal visited the Ghazipur border to lend his support to the protesting farmers.

    Badal, whose party pulled out of the NDA government over the three farm laws, met Tikait for around 10 minutes.

    ALSO READ | Farmers protests: BJP leader smells ‘political conspiracy’ behind Republic Day violence

    Farmers, carrying tricolours and raising slogans, took out marches, while a group of youths gathered at a spot near the Delhi-Meerut expressway and danced to patriotic songs till the sun went down.

    The scene was quite different just three days ago.

    A day after the Republic Day violence in Delhi, when a section of farmers taking part in the tractor parade broke through barriers, clashed with police and stormed the Red Fort for a few hours, the farmer game it seemed to be over.

    Morale plummeted and many farmers returned home.

    On Wednesday night, the atmosphere was tense at Ghazipur.

    The Ghaziabad administration issued an “ultimatum” to the protesters occupying a stretch of the Delhi-Meerut expressway to vacate as the January 26 clashes painted a not-so-peaceful picture of the peasant community.

    As security presence at the site escalated and fears grew that the protesters would be forcibly evicted, an emotional Tikait broke down while talking to reporters.

    “The protest won’t be called off. Farmers are being met with injustice,” he said and even threatened to end his life for the cause.

    A layer of barbed wire fencing was added to the existing multi-layered barricading at the protest site.

    But that couldn’t keep people from reaching the area where farmers have been camping since late November.

    ALSO READ | Samyukta Kisan Morcha claims over 100 people missing since tractor parade, forms panel

    Sarita Rana, a BKU member from Gurgaon, said she walked two kilometres to reach the protest site.

    Rana said she and her husband couldn’t sleep a bit the night they watched a video of Tikait crying.

    “We have never seen him crying. It moved us,” she said.

    “The government has been trying to scuttle the protest by blocking roads and withdrawing facilities such as water and power supply. But this has strengthened our resolve to fight on,” Rana said.

    The farmers kept arriving with water-filled cans from their hometown for their beloved leader.

    According to a BKU member’s estimate, over 10,000 farmers have gathered at the UP Gate protest site on Sunday.

    Tikait said he respects the sentiments of the protesters and the water-filled cans will be emptied in the Ganga.

    Referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s monthly broadcast, wherein on Sunday he maintained that his government is committed to “modernising” farming and has been taking many steps, many urged him to listen to the ‘Mann ki Baat’ of the farmers.

    “If a politician can come to our house asking for our votes, why cannot they come to us here to resolve the issue. If PM Modi wants to talk, he should give us a phone number to call,” said 64-year Satbir Singh from Haryana’s Jind district.

    Ravinder Singh, 63, from Uttar Pradesh’s Hapur, said farmers want to return to their fields, “but that will happen only when the three laws are repealed and a legal guarantee ensuring minimum support price is provided.”

    Meanwhile, Delhi’s Singhu border witnessed increased hustle-bustle on Sunday as more farmers from Punjab and Haryana poured in to join the protest against the Centre’s new agri laws, even as some complained of poor internet connectivity and difficulties in getting water and food supplies.

    The protesters also ramped up vigil at the protest site sprawled on the GT Karnal Road at the Delhi-Haryana border, with more stick-carrying volunteers taking regular rounds, in the backdrop of a violent protest by ‘locals’ on Friday.

    Thousands of farmers reached Singhu Border on Saturday evening in hundreds of vehicles including tractor trollies from Punjab and Haryana, said Satnam Singh Sahni, general secretary of Bhartiya Kisan Union, BKU (Doaba).

    “Over a thousand farmers from Doaba region in Punjab reached here in 250 vehicles on Saturday night. Also, around 250 trollies from Mohali (Punjab) and 300 trollies from different places of Haryana brought thousands of people here,” Sahni said.

    ALSO READ | Modi Government bent upon throttling farmers’ voice by banning Internet: Congress

    He claimed thousands of more farmers were on their way to join the protest.

    Sahni said problems of poor internet and scarcity of water and supplies including food items was being faced by the farmers for the last few days as the routes leading to the protest site were blocked by the police.

    A group of farmers from Sangrur said earlier the locals from nearby areas in Haryana and Delhi provided water and other items but were now unable to do so due to restrictions put in place by the police.

    “We are not going to be deterred by these roadblocks erected by the police. We have already stocks for many weeks. There is a little problem of water for bathing and washing purposes but we are fine and arranging other sources to get water,” said Nachhattar Singh.

    The farmers said they were facing problems of poor internet connectivity following the violence during the tractor rally on Republic Day .

    “The movement has gained worldwide attention but due to absence of internet, we are unable to update people in the country and abroad,” said a young protester Satbir Singh from Ludhiana.

    In view of the protest by ‘locals’ on Friday demanding clearing of the highway by the protesting farmers, the security has been increased at the site.

    “They were people from the BJP sent by the government to scare us. Now, we have made arrangements to meet with any situation. More volunteers are now patrolling and vigil has been enhanced with more than one person from each tractor trolley keeping watch during the night,” said one functionary of Samyukta Kisan Morcha.

    ALSO READ | Haryana BJP leader Balwan Singh Daulatpuria quits party over farm laws

    The protesters under the banner of Kisan Mazdoor Sangthan, Punjab, who have set up a separate stage from the Morcha stage at Singhu, were affected by violence on Friday in which a police officer also sustained injury.

    “The locals from Delhi side who were actually agents of the ruling party pelted stones that tore our tents.

    They also damaged our washing machines and other items with police failing to control them,” said elderly Dilbagh Singh who suffered injury on his left hand during the protest by ‘locals’.

    The police has now closed all the routes leading to problems of water and supplies of firewood and other items for Langar, he said.

  • Farm laws a ‘fire’ which would lead to losses: Bharatiya Kisan Union president Naresh Tikait

    By PTI
    MUZAFFARNAGAR: Bharatiya Kisan Union national president Naresh Tikait has termed farm laws a “fire” (aag) which would lead to losses and has urged the Centre to repeal them. A video of Tikait speaking to reporters in Muzaffarnagar was shared on social media on Sunday.

    ALSO READ| Will honour PM’s dignity, but also protect farmers’ self-respect: Naresh Tikait

    In the video, he said, “Repeal this bill, this is a fire. This is a fire which will lead to many losses. (iss bill ko dabaa do, yeh aag hai, yeh bahut nuksaan ki aag hai). If the laws are repealed then the government does not stand to lose anything. The bills have put on hold for one-and-half years. Accept your fault, and hold talks.”

    इब के इन्होंने गलत जगह हाथ गेर दिया। माँगे माने बिना हम मानने वाले नहीं। लाठी-गोली कुछ भी चला लो, हम सीने पै गोली खाएंगे, पीठ दिखा के जाने वाले नहीं। इब यो किसान परिवार एकजुट हो लिया।आज बागपत महापंचायत का नज़ारा… pic.twitter.com/c76ge9RWVo
    — Naresh Tikait (@NareshTikait_) January 31, 2021

    Tikait also said, “In this government, Rajnath (Singh) jee is being humiliated (Rajnath jee ki tauheen ho rahi hai iss sarkaar mein). There is nothing in the control of our MPs, they are feeling afraid, and their sympathy is with the farmers.”

  • Farmers dance to folk tunes at night as cops put up barbed wires, barricades at Ghazipur border

    By PTI
    GHAZIABAD: Hundreds of farmers, who reached a key protest site on the Delhi-Meerut highway in Ghazipur on the national capital’s border with Uttar Pradesh, danced to upbeat tunes overnight as more supporters continued to pour in on Sunday.

    Security measures were strengthened with multi-layer barricading and barbed wires coming up on both sides of the highway stretch that has become the Bharatiya Kisan Union’s (BKU) camping site since November 28 last year in a major farmers’ stir over three new farm laws of the Centre.

    Farmers reached the Ghazipur border from western Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajastan, Uttarakhand as a turban-clad Rakesh Tikait led the charge for the BKU, the appeal of which coupled with a clarion call from a January 29 “mahapanchayat” of farmers in Muzaffarnagar has re-energised the stir, which was fast losing its sheen and momentum after the Republic Day violence in Delhi.

    According to the Ghaziabad administration, senior officials and police officers are regularly monitoring the situation at the Ghazipur border.

    Vehicles proceeding towards and coming from the protest site are being checked while drones have been deployed for aerial monitoring at the site, officials said.

    “The situation is under control and is being regularly monitored,” an officer of the district administration said.

    The groups of farmers camping at the site braving the cold nights were seen dancing to folk tunes and songs eulogising the nation and farmers as some young protesters carried music systems to Ghazipur on their tractor-trollies.

    Thousands of farmers have been protesting at Delhi’s borders with Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, demanding a rollback of the 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.

    The protesting farmers have expressed the apprehension that these laws would pave the way for the dismantling of the minimum support price (MSP) system, leaving them at the “mercy” of big corporations.

    However, the government has maintained that the new laws will bring better opportunities to farmers and introduce new technologies in agriculture.

  • Gurjar leader Madan Bhaiyya extends community’s support to farmers’ protest

    By PTI
    GHAZIABAD: Prominent Gurjar leader of western Uttar Pradesh Madan Bhaiyya on Saturday extended his community’s support to the Bharatiya Kisan Union in its ongoing protest against the central farm laws.

    Without naming him, Madan Bhaiyya also hit out at BJP’s Loni MLA Nand Kishor Gurjar, who has been accused by farmers of orchestrating violence at the Ghazipur protest site on January 26, saying he indulged in “anti-farmer acts”.

    Nand Kishor, however, has denied the allegations.

    Madan Bhaiyya said the farmers at Delhi’s borders have been protesting for two months now and braving the cold to highlight their demand for the rollback of the new laws and their movement is non-political and peaceful.

    He also lauded BKU leader Rakesh Tikait and his supporters for infusing new energy into the movement.

    Madan Bhaiyya extended the support of the Gurjar community to all protests against the new farm laws at different Delhi borders including Ghazipur, where BKU members and supporters have been camping since November 28 last year.

    “I assure the Gurjar community’s support to transform your (Tikait’s) tears into a flood,” he said in a statement.

    Referring to the violence on January 26, Madan Bhaiyya said, “The ruckus created by one anti-national element has embarrassed the whole country and because of this the protesting farmers felt discouraged and demotivated despite being innocent.”

    Targeting Nand Kishor, the four-time former MLA and regional strongman said, “Recently, a man who attaches Gurjar surname indulged in anti-farmer acts which have embarrassed the whole community.”

    “Gurjars are also identified as a farming community and in this light, it would dent the prestige of all Gurjars if any community member goes to these protests with an intention to create a ruckus,” he said.

  • ‘The new messiah’: Rakesh Tikait is cynosure of many eyes, not just farmers

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: His tears exercised an emotive pull even he may not have envisaged, helping turn the tide for a movement that seemed to have lost both sheen and momentum after the violence on Republic Day.

    It was but a moment in time and Rakesh Tikait was the man in it.

    He was once a Delhi Police constable, tried his hand at electoral politics and been a farmer leader for years.

    But Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Tikait has broken out of the confines of western Uttar Pradesh to find a space in the national spotlight as arguably the most powerful farm leader of the day.

    The two-month farmer movement against the Centre’s three farm laws was till now dominated by protesters from the fields of Punjab and Haryana who set up camp at the Singhu and Tikri border points into the city.

    ALSO READ | Bhim Army chief meets Rakesh Tikait at Ghazipur border, offers help to strengthen farmers’ protest

    Now, the focus has shifted to Ghazipur on the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border where farmers are gathering in thousands to boost the fight that seemed to have been weakening only two days ago.

    A day after the Republic Day violence in Delhi, when a section of farmers taking part in the tractor parade broke through barriers, clashed with police and stormed the Red Fort for a few hours, the farmer game it seemed to be over.

    Morale plummeted and many farmers returned home.

    On Wednesday night, the atmosphere was tense at Ghazipur.

    The Ghaziabad administration issued an ‘ultimatum’ to the protesters occupying a stretch of the Delhi-Meerut expressway to vacate as the January 26 clashes painted a not-so-peaceful picture of the peasant community.

    And then came the Tikait moment.

    As security presence at the site escalated and fears grew that the protesters would be forcibly evicted, an emotional Tikait broke down while talking to reporters.

    “The protest won’t be called off. Farmers are being met with injustice,” he said and even threatened to end his life for the cause.

    It soon emerged that the 51-year-old who was leading BKU supporters at the Ghazipur border since November 28, was no ordinary man at all.

    His call for continuing the protest against the government struck a deep emotional chord.

    Videos of his emotional outburst were circulated across multiple platforms.

    It led to his brother Naresh Tikait calling a ‘mahapanchayat’ at their home town in Muzaffarnagar on Friday where tens of thousands of farmers gathered to back the movement.

    ALSO READ | Tractor parade violence: Yogendra Yadav, Rakesh Tikait, Patkar among 37 leaders named in FIR

    The crowd at Ghazipur border that had reduced to 500 on Thursday night grew manifold over the next 12 hours, running into well over 5,000 in next 24 hours.

    The farmer movement was not just revived but further energised.

    Tikait, who has been part of a delegation talking with the Centre over the ongoing protest, is also one of the accused in the January 26 violence in Delhi that saw one farmer dying when his tractor overturned and hundreds of people, including police personnel, being injured.

    He has denied the allegations of conspiracy and demanded a judicial probe into the violence, blaming infiltrators in the tractors’ parade of the unrest.

    To be named as an accused by the Delhi Police is perhaps strange for Tikait, who served as a head constable in the force but quit in 1992-93 when he had to deal with a farmers’ agitation led by his father, the legendary Mahendra Singh Tikait.

    Born on June 4, 1969 in Sisauli village of Muzaffarnagar district in western Uttar Pradesh, Rakesh Tikait joined BKU after quitting the Delhi Police and gained prominence as a farm leader after the death of his father to cancer in May 2011.

    Mahendra Tikait, who was hailed as ‘messiah’ of farmers, had inherited the ‘Chaudhary’ title of the regional Baliyan khap (a social and administrative system in parts of north India) at the age of eight from his father.

    Going by the tradition of the khap, the title passed on to his elder son and Rakesh Tikait’s elder brother Naresh.

    But Rakesh Tikait, a BA graduate from the Meerut University, was designated national spokesperson of the BKU.

    He has two younger brothers — Surendra, who works as a manager in a sugar mill, and Narendra, engaged in agriculture.

    The father of three — two daughters and a son — has been at loggerheads with various governments on a range of farmers’ issues, including loan waivers, minimum support price (MSP), power tariff and land acquisition in states such as UP, Haryana Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh.

    He also tried his hand at elections but lost both times.

    In 2007, he contested the UP Assembly polls from Khatauli constituency in Muzaffarnagar as an independent candidate.

    In 2014, he fought the Lok Sabha election from Amroha district on a Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) ticket.

    It’s an affluent family.

    Ahead of the 2014 polls, Tikait had declared assets worth Rs 4.25 crore, including Rs 10 lakh cash, and liabilities of Rs 10.95 lakh with land worth over Rs 3 crore forming the biggest chunk of his assets.

    He also declared three criminal cases against him in the election affidavit.

    These cases were lodged in Meerut and Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh, and Anuppur in Madhya Pradesh.

    The vocal farmer leader had to spend nights behind the bars for defying public servant’s orders during several of the protests that he has led in the past decade.

    Having dug in his heels along with his supporters at the Ghazipur border amid a deadlock with the Centre over the new farm laws, Tikait on Saturday was once again teary eyed.

    But this time overwhelmed by emotion as villagers, including children, reached the protest site carrying water, homemade food and buttermilk, after he announced he would drink water only when farmers will bring it since the local administration had barred water tankers at the protest site.

    Rakesh Tikait is now the cynosure of many eyes — and it’s not just farmers.

  • Farm laws: Badal attacks Modi government again; SAD cadres asked to reach protest sites

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Badal on Friday asserted the Centre cannot suppress the farmers’ voice against the agriculture laws and claimed BJP cadres are creating tension at peasants’ protest sites at Delhi’s Singhu and Ghazipur borders.

    Underlining that the SAD is a party of “peasantry”, Badal said he spoke to Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rakesh Tikait, who is leading the farmers’ protest at Ghazipur, and assured him of all support.

    Earlier in the day, farmers camping at the Singhu border clashed with a large group of men claiming to be local residents who reached there to vacate the area.

    Police fired tear gas shells and resorted to baton charge to break up the clash.

    On Thursday, the Ghaziabad administration gave an ultimatum to farmers protesting at UP Gate in Ghazipur on the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border to vacate the site by midnight.

    However, the protesters have stayed put at the protest site.

    “BJP cadres are trying to create tension at Singhu and Ghazipur borders where farmers are protesting against the three farm laws. With the help of its cadres, the BJP is creating a situation of confrontation at the locations where the farmers are peacefully protesting against the laws,” the SAD chief said at a press conference here.

    He asked if the government wants to create communal tension in the country.

    “Activities of BJP cadres can create communal tension, I appeal to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah to check their party cadres,” he said.

    The former deputy chief minister of Punjab said, “The struggle, the fight to repeal three farm laws is not of any specific religion or caste, it is of the entire farming community. The Centre cannot suppress the voice of farmers.”

    Describing farmers as ‘annadatta’, Badal said they don’t need a certificate for their patriotism from any party and cannot be termed anti-national.

    Meanwhile, the party on Friday asked its party cadre to rush to the three farmers’ protest sites on Delhi borders in large numbers to give a further boost to the ongoing agitation.

    SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal also spoke to farmer leader Rakesh Tikait and discussed ways to shore up more strength and support for the farmers’ agitation in Delhi, especially in view of the “combined onslaught against farmers by the BJP and the Centre”, a party statement said.

    Consequent upon the telephonic conversation with Tikait, Badal instructed the Akali cadre to rush to Delhi borders in larger numbers than before and lend strength to the peaceful movement, it added.

    While many Akali contingents have already joined the farmers in the gathering, more are on the way in large numbers, Badal said.

    Senior SAD leader Bikram Singh Majithia also appealed to SAD and Youth Akali Dal (YAD) workers who had returned to Punjab during the past one week to go back to the protest sites at Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur, the statement said.

    It said Badal on Friday sent an Akali delegation comprising senior leader Balwinder Singh Bhunder, SAD Delhi president Harmit Singh Kalka and the DSGMC chief Manjindner Singh Sirsa to the site of the farmers dharna led by Tikait.

    The leaders had extensive talks with Tikait and discussed ways to lend more strength to the agitation, it added.

    The delegation assured Tikait of “whole-hearted support in terms of men, material and morale” to the farmers’ cause, the statement said.

    Majitha said more partymen need to be at protest sites when the government wants to crush the agitation.

    “I know a large number of you have been camping on the Delhi borders since the last two months. However, the central government is making attempts to crush the ‘kisan andolan’ (agitation) in league with the BJP government in Haryana,” he said.

    “We must ensure this nefarious design to silence the voice of the ‘annadaata’ and disrespect the sacrifice of eighty martyrs (farmers) does not succeed at any cost.

    No sacrifice is too big to ensure a win for the peasantry as well as ensuring peace and communal harmony,” the statement quoted Majitha as saying.

    The SAD leader also condemned the “crude attempts” being made to suppress the farmers’ agitation against the Centre’s new farm laws “by letting loose lumpen elements on peacefully agitating farmers at Ghazipur on Thursday during the course of which farmer leader Rakesh Takait was targeted”.

    “Similar attempts were made at Singhu border on Friday,” he alleged.

    Majithia said such scenes were “extremely unfortunate” in a democracy.

    “Coercive steps like cutting off water and power supply to the dharna sites and stopping food from reaching them would only strengthen the kisan andolan even further.”

    He said it was also condemnable that the “central government was instigating communities to fight against each other and also fomenting fights between farmers as well as farmer organisations”.

    He appealed to farmers, farm labourers and people to maintain peace and communal harmony “despite grave provocations”.

    Majithia also denounced the manner in which the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) was being “misused” against farmer leaders and journalists.

    He said the UAPA had been framed against those challenging the unity and integrity of India and should not be used to persecute innocent people.

    “Doing so amounts to dictatorial conduct,” Majithia added.

    Farmers should not be singled out for fighting for the repeal of the three agricultural laws as well as the implementation of the Swaminathan Commission report in letter and spirit.

    Majithia, whose party had snapped ties with the NDA over farm laws issue, said the central government had not taken any action against those indulged in wrongful acts on Republic Day in Delhi “which has sent a clear message to the people that state agencies were behind them.

  • Farm laws: RLD chief Ajit Singh speaks to Tikait brothers, announces support to BKU

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) chief Ajit Singh has announced support to the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU), the members of which are staging a protest against the Centre’s new farm laws at the Delhi-Ghaziabad border.

    The former Union minister has spoken to BKU president Naresh Tikait and spokesperson Rakesh Tikait, RLD vice president and his son Jayant Chaudhary said.

    “It is a matter of life and death for farmers, but do not worry. All have to stay together, united in this — this is Chaudhary saahab’s  (Ajit Singh’s) message,” the RLD vice president said in a tweet in Hindi.

    The Tikait brothers, sons of legendary farm leader Mahendra Singh Tikait, are leading the BKU, the members of which are camping at the UP Gate (Ghazipur border) for two months now demanding a rollback of the contentious farm laws brought by the Centre in September last year.

    The RLD, which was virtually wiped out in the last Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls, was founded by Singh, son of Chaudhary Charan Singh, a former prime minister and a farmer leader from western Uttar Pradesh.