News Analysis India

Tag: Rakesh Tikait

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

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Farmer leader Naresh Tikait Sunday said that protesting farmers will honour the dignity of prime minister, but are also committed to protect their own self-respect, a day after Narendra Modi said his government was just a “phone call away” for talks with them.

    Tikait said the government should “release our men and prepare an environment conducive for talks”.

    “A respectful solution should be reached. We will never agree to anything under pressure,” he told PTI at the Ghazipur border between Delhi and Uttar Pradesh.

    Prime Minister Narendra Modi had Saturday said his government’s offer on agri laws made to protesting farmers “still stands” and it was a just “phone call away” for talks, days after violence broke out in parts of the national capital on Republic Day.

    “We will honor and respect the dignity of prime minister. Farmers don’t want that the government or Parliament bows down to them,” Tikait said.

    “Will also ensure that the self-respect of farmers is protected. A middle way should be found. Talks should be held,” he added.

    During their January 26 parade, many of the protesters, driving tractors, reached the Red Fort while some of them hoisted religious flags on its domes and the flagstaff at the ramparts, where the national flag is unfurled by the prime minister on Independence Day.

    Tikait said, “The violence on January 26 was part of a conspiracy. The Tricolor is over and above everything. We will never let anyone disrespect it. It will not be tolerated,” he said.

    The Delhi Police has registered nearly 40 cases and made over 80 arrests in connection with the violence and vandalism.

    “The government should release our men and prepare an environment conducive for talks. A respectful solution should be reached. We will never agree to anything under pressure,” Tikait asserted.

    In his monthly Mann Ki Baat radio broadcast Sunday, Prime Minister Modi also referred to the Red Fort incident, saying the country was much pained at seeing the dishonour to the Tricolour on Republic Day.

  • Amid tight security, farmers’ protest enters day 67; next meeting with Centre on February 2

    By ANI
    NEW DELHI: Heightened security deployment has continued at the Singhu border (Delhi-Haryana border) as farmers’ protest against three agriculture laws entered the 67th day on Sunday. The next round of talks between the farmers and the Centre is scheduled for February 2.

    While the protest at Ghazipur border by the farmers (Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border) has entered Day 65. Security has been beefed up as more farmers are coming to the protest site for the past two-three days.

    “Government is changing the goal-post. It is a bad thing. They are not taking any decision. The government should repeal the laws. It will be better for the farmers and the government,” Shyam, a protesting farmer at Ghazipur border told ANI.

    Another farmer Ram Beer Singh said, “We will not accept the proposal. We will continue to protest. We have not done anything bad and we want the repeal of the laws.”

    Protestors were seen raising slogans against the central government. They were demanding the repeal of farm laws.

    They were also seen sitting on ‘relay hunger strike’.

    ALSO READ | Stir against agri laws regains momentum after Tikait mobilises support from UP, Punjab

    “Since December 22, 2020, we are organising relay hunger where 11 farmers sit on hunger strike for 24 hours. Farmers are ready for talks with the government if they have good intention. We are always ready for talks,” Tajinder Singh Virk, a farmer leader said.

    To ‘maintain public safety and averting public emergency’, the Union Home Ministry has temporarily suspended internet services at the three borders and their adjoining areas from 11 pm of January 29 to 11 pm of January 31. The Haryana government has also extended the suspension of internet services in 17 districts till 5 pm on January 31. The Delhi Police has also closed the NH-24 route.

    During all party-meeting on Saturday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi reiterated that the proposal of government given to farmers on January 22 still stands and should be communicated to all by the leaders of the political parties.

    PM Modi has also said that Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar was just a phone call away for protestors.

    On January 22, during the 11th round of talks with protesting farmers, the government proposed to suspend the new legislations for one-and-a-half years and also proposed to set up a joint committee to discuss the Acts.

    The tension between the government and farmers protesting the farm laws has escalated after the violence which broke out in various parts of the national capital during the farmers’ tractor rally on Republic Day.

    ALSO READ | Let government tell farmers why can’t it repeal farm laws, we will not let it bow its head: Tikait

    On Republic Day, protestors did not follow the prearranged route and broke barricades to enter Delhi, clashed with police and vandalised property in several parts of the national capital during the farmers’ tractor rally organised to protest against the Centre’s three new farm laws. They also entered the Red Fort and unfurled their flags from its ramparts.

    Farmers have been protesting at different borders of the national capital since November 26, 2020, against the 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.

  • Stir against agri laws regains momentum after Tikait mobilises support from UP, Punjab

    By PTI
    GHAZIABAD/NEW DELHI: The agitation against the farm laws appeared to regain momentum on Saturday after rallying support from the agricultural community of the crucial western Uttar Pradesh region, even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi stressed that his government’s proposal to protesting farmers stands and it is a “phone call away” for talks.

    Farmer leaders held a day-long fast on Mahatma Gandhi’s death anniversary at the protest sites on the borders of the national capital including Ghazipur, on the Delhi-Meerut highway, that has now become the new focal point of the stir with more protesters converging there, days after the crowds had waned following the violence at the tractor rally on January 26.

    Agitating union leaders claimed that protesters were also heading back to Singhu and Tikri borders from Punjab and Haryana, The administration remained on high alert with Internet services temporarily suspended at the Singhu, Ghazipur, and Tikri borders of the national capital, as well as in the adjoining areas.

    Haryana has also suspended mobile internet services in 17 districts till Sunday evening.

    Security personnel, including anti-riot police and paramilitary forces, were deployed in strength.

    ALSO READ | PM Modi should talk to farmers: Gehlot on agri laws protests

    Multiple layers of barricades including concrete blocks had been put at the protest sites.

    Wearing garlands, the farmer leaders, who had called for observing ‘Sadbhavana Diwas’ (Harmony Day) on Saturday after the immense outrage over violence by protesters during their Republic Day tractor rally, sat on the dais during the fast.

    Addressing the protesters in Ghazipur, Bharatiya Kisan Union Rakesh Tikait, whose emotional appeal had galvanised farmers from Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand to flock to the protest site, said they have fought this battle for over two months now and “won’t relent or retreat”.

    “The movement was and is strong,” BKU’s Meerut Zone president Pawan Khatana said, a day after tens of thousands of farmers from politically sensitive western Uttar Pradesh had gathered in Muzaffarnagar to participate in a mahapanchayat in a massive outpouring of support for the agitation after Tikait broke down following administration’s attempt to remove the protesters on Thursday night.

    Till now, the agitation was seen as mainly being led by Punjab-based farmer unions.

    With the opposition gearing up to raise the issue of farmers’ agitation in Parliament, Prime Minister Modi told floor leaders of various political parties that his government’s offer on agri laws made to protesting farmers “still stands” and it was a “phone call away” for talks.

    At the customary all-party meeting convened by the government ahead of the Budget Session, the prime minister, responding to the references by opposition leaders about the “unfortunate incident” on Republic Day, said that the “law will take its own course”.

    “The prime minister assured that the Centre is approaching the farmers’ issue with an open mind,” Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi said.

    “The prime minister said the Centre’s stand is same as it was on January 22, the last meeting between the protesting farmers and the Centre and proposal given by Agriculture Minister on the farm laws still stands. Modiji reiterated what Tomarji had said – that he (Narendra Singh Tomar) is a phone call away for talks,” Joshi said, quoting the prime minister.

    ALSO READ | Violence on Republic Day scripted by BJP to discredit farmers’ movement: AAP

    While the farmer unions have insisted that the laws be scrapped, the government has said it is ready to suspend the Acts for 18 months and carry out amendments.

    A multitude of green-and-white caps, symbolic of the unions spearheading the battle, union flags and the tricolour, planted on tractors, dotted the Delhi-Meerut highway on Saturday.

    On various tractors and camps, photos of legendary farmer leaders such as Chaudhary Charan Singh and Mahendra Singh Tikait have been put up.

    Villagers brought water in clay pots and home-made food for Rakesh Tikait in a show of solidarity, even as local authorities sent tankers of drinking water and mobile toilets at the protest site.

    Tikait urged the government to restore internet services.

    Khatana, who is at the demonstration site with Tikait, asserted that “it is not a political protest”.

    “Anybody who shares the ideology of the BKU and Rakesh Tikait is welcome here. But it is our appeal to those who do not wish to support the movement till the end that please do not come only to leave in between,” he said.

    Several opposition parties including the Congress, TMC, AAP, RLD, DMK and the Left have openly supported the stir and demanded that the Centre repeal the laws.

    Abhimanyu Kohar, a senior member of Samkyukt Kisan Morcha which is an umbrella body of farmer unions, said the ongoing agitation will gain strength as farmers in large numbers will join them in the coming days.

    Farmer leader Balbir Singh Rajewal said in Chandigarh that he expects a record gathering by February 2 at the border points of Delhi.

    “People in large numbers from Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand are reaching the protest sites,” Rajewal claimed.

    He accused the Centre of instilling a sense of fear among people by showing pictures of Tuesday’s “unfortunate incidents”.

    Rajewal appealed to those joining the agitation at Delhi’s borders to keep the protest peaceful.

    “It is our responsibility to keep the agitation peaceful,” he stressed.

    The farmer leader urged the Centre to shun its “stubborn attitude” and withdraw the three farm laws.

    Asked about the next meeting between the protesting farmers and the government, he said, “When they call us, we will certainly go”.

    ALSO READ | New agri laws will undercut MSP procurement, Mandi system: Sharad Pawar

    To a question on joining the investigation following notices issued by the Delhi Police to farmer leaders in connection with the Republic Day violence, Rajewal said, “We will send them a reply.”

    The Delhi Police has issued the notices to around 20 farmer leaders, including Rajewal, over the violence during the farmers’ tractor parade, asking why legal action should not be taken against them.

    A team of forensic experts on Saturday visited the Red Fort, where the protesters had indulged in vandalism, hoisted a religious flag and attacked police personnel, to collect evidence.

    The Delhi Police has so far registered 38 cases and arrested 84 people in connection with the violence on Republic Day, officials said.

    The police received 1,700 video clips and CCTV footage from public and is taking help from forensic experts to analyse the material and identify the culprits, Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) B K Singh said.

    He said the Crime Branch, which is investigating the nine cases related to the violence including at the Red Fort and ITO, is also examining dump data of mobile phone calls and registration numbers of tractors.

    Heavy security deployment, including personnel of the Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC), Rapid Action Force (RAF) in anti-riot gears and civil police, continued at the protest sites.

    Police had on Friday used tear gas and baton charge to break up a clash between farmers and a large group of men who claimed to be local residents at the Singhu border.

    The Delhi Traffic Police said movement on the National Highway 24 (Delhi-Meerut Expressway) has been stopped.

    Apart from the three borders of Delhi, internet services will remain suspended in their adjoining areas too effective from 11 pm of January 29 to 11 pm of January 31, a Union Home Ministry official said.

    The decision has been taken to “maintain public safety and averting public emergency” under Temporary Suspension of Telecom Services (Public Emergency or Public Safety) Rules 2017, the official said.

    Farmer unions claimed that protests were held in several parts of Punjab on Saturday.

    Thousands of farmers have been protesting since late November 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 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.

    Meanwhile, various Punjab unions on Saturday claimed that with more and more farmer groups marching towards Delhi, there would a be a record gathering of peasants and farm labourers on the borders of the national capital by February 2.

    Bharatiya Kisan Union (Rajewal) president Balbir Singh Rajewal said he expects a record gathering by February 2 at the border points of Delhi.

    ALSO READ | Government’s ‘efforts’ to crush farmers’ stir has only strengthened them: RLD’s Jayant Chaudhary

    Farmers and farm labourers at some places including Sangrur and Mohali in Punjab observed hunger strike in support of farmers’ agitation on Saturday.

    Protesting farmers even burnt effigies of the Centre at 400 places in 14 districts of Punjab against the new farm laws, demanding its repeal.

    “People from several areas area are heading towards Delhi borders to join the agitation,” said Bharti Kisan Union (Ekta Ugrahan) general secretary Sukhdev Singh Kokrikalan on Saturday.

    “Our ‘jatha’ (group) of at least 700-800 tractors will leave for the Tikri border protest site on Sunday,” said Kokrikalan.

    He said only those people who went for participating in the January 26 tractor parade came back.

    He insisted that the laws enacted by the BJP-led central government would cause heavy damage to the farm sector of the country.

    BKU (Rajewal) leader Balbir Singh Rajewal said people in large numbers from Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand are reaching the protest sites.

    “Possibly by February 2, there will again a record gathering of people at the protest sites,” claimed Rajewal, insisting that it would be completely peaceful.

    Rajewal also appealed to the people joining the agitation at the Delhi border to keep the protest peaceful.

    He also asked them not to get provoked which otherwise would affect the ongoing peaceful agitation.

    To express solidarity with protesting farmers, panchayats of some villages in Bathinda, Ludhiana and Sangrur in Punjab even passed resolutions, asking villagers to send one person from each family to the protest sites, said farmer leaders.

    Farmers from Punjab and Haryana have been camping at Delhi’s borders for several weeks, demanding the repeal of the farm laws and a legal guarantee on the minimum support price for crops.

    They have been claiming that the new laws will weaken the MSP system, despite the Centre seeking to assure them in vain that the MSP system was here to stay and the new laws would only provide more options for farmers to sell their produce.

  • Let government tell farmers why can’t it repeal farm laws, we will not let it bow its head: Tikait

    By PTI
    GHAZIABAD: BKU leader Rakesh Tikait on Saturday asked the Centre to explain to farmers why it does not want to repeal the three farm laws, while promising it that they “will not let the government bow its head” before the world.

    TIkait appeared to make the conciliatory offer to the government from a position of strength amid swelling support for farmers’ stir with hundreds of villagers pouring in at the key protest site, Gazipur’s UP Gate on the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border.

    “What is the compulsion of the government that it is adamant on not repealing the new farm laws?,” asked Tikait, who has emerged virtually overnight as a potent face of farmers’ stir following his emotional appeal to the farming community against leaving the protest site.

    “The government can tell its reasons to farmers and we (farmers) are the kind of people who believe in the panchayat system. We will never let the government bow its head in shame in front of the world,” Tikait said, apparently striking a conciliatory note.

    “We have an ideological fight with the government, something which can neither be fought with sticks and guns nor suppressed by them. The farmers will return home only when the new laws are repealed,” the BKU national spokesperson asserted.

    The younger son of Bharatiya Kisan Union’s late president Mahendra Singh Tikait, made the assertion with hundreds of villagers, including women and children reaching the protest site at Delhi eastern border, during the day, some with water and homemade food and others with buttermilk — in a symbolic show of support for protestors.

    The day also saw more politicians throwing in their weight behind the Tikait’s growing strength and meeting him at the protest site.

    The BKU-led protest against the Centre’s new farm laws appeared to be fizzling out following the Republic Day violence in Delhi during the tractor rally, but more protestors joined the stir after a ‘mahapanchayat’ of farmers on Saturday in Muzaffarnagar.

    Addressing the protesting farmers, Tkait said farmers believe in the Gandhian principle of non-violence and have full faith in the Constitution and appealed to everyone for maintaining peace.

    “The farmers won’t mind if the police even baton-charged them but if goons of political parties dare touch them, neither the farmers nor their tractors would leave the site,” he asserted.

    “The tears that I shed the other day were not mine but of all farmers,” he added, imparting an emotional edge to his address.

    Politicians continued to reach the protest site at UP Gate for a second day, even as Tikait insisted that no political leader would be allowed on the central platform and meetings with them would happen only off stage.

    The political leaders who met Tkait on Saturday and extended his support to him included Indian National Lok Dal leader Abhay Chautala and Gujjar leader and former MLA Madan Bbhaiyya.

    Tikait’s spiritual guru and founder of Neelkanth Ashram Amit Maharaj also reached the protest site, carrying Gangajal for him.

    He gave the holy water to Tikait to consume and blessed him, paying God to give him the strength to transform the stir into a “mega movement” of farmers.

    “The movement was and is strong,” BKU’s Meerut Zone president Pawan Khatana told PTI.

    Khatana said there has been continuous support for the “peaceful protest” against the farmers’ demand for removal of the new farm laws.

    Asked about the estimated crowd size at the site, he said, “Farmers are coming in to show the solidarity and leaving. It is not a stagnant crowd.”

    The Delhi Traffic Police said to-and-fro movement on the National Highway 24 (Delhi-Meerut Expressway) has been closed.

    “Three super zonal magistrates, 14 zonal magistrate and 34 sector magistrates from the administration besides senior police officers are on the ground where law and order is under control,” Ghaziabad District Magistrate Ajay Shankar Pandey told PTI.

    “Mobile toilets have been stationed at the protest site and water facilities have been restored,” he said, adding the situation was being monitored at the border.

    Internet services, however, will remain suspended till Sunday night in view of the Centre’s order to “maintain public safety and averting public emergency”, the administration said.

    Around 3,000 security personnel including those from the Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC), Rapid Action Force (RAF) in anti-riot gears and civil police, were deployed at the protest site, according to officials.

  • 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.

  • Villagers bring food, water for Rakesh Tikait as BKU digs heels at Ghazipur border

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Villagers brought water in clay pots and home-made food for Bharatiya Kisan Union leader Rakesh Tikait on Saturday in a show of support for the ongoing stir against the new farm laws, even as local authorities sent tankers of drinking water and mobile toilets at the protest site.

    Tikait urged the government to restore internet services, which have been banned by the Centre at protest sites on Delhi’s borders Saturday.

    A little boy from a Ghaziabad village reached the protest with a tiffin filled with homemade ‘parathas’ and pickle along with water.

    Some villagers from western Uttar Pradesh including places like Muzaffarnagar, Greater Noida, and Meerut also reached Ghazipur border with water and buttermilk in clay pots to feed the protestors.

    ALSO READ: Ghazipur border – Resolve grows stronger, farmers say movement not affected by January 26 incident

    Water and power supply at the protest site was disrupted by the local administration two days ago following an ultimatum to protestors to vacate the spot by Thursday night, prompting Tikait to say he would drink water only when farmers bring it from their villages but continue the stir.

    Overwhelmed by emotion, tears welled up the eyes of Tikait, who had proclaimed he would rather commit suicide than end the protest for farmers.

    “A conspiracy is being planned by the BJP to weaken the agitation of farmers,” Tikait claimed, a day after a BKU member filed a complaint at Kashambi police station here against two BJP MLAs for allegedly orchestrating violence at the protest site.

    A senior police official confirmed to PTI that the complaint was made against Loni MLA Nand Kishor Gujjar and Sahibabad MLA Sunil Sharma but FIR has not been lodged.

    ALSO READ: R-Day violence – Team of forensic experts visits Red Fort to collect evidence

    Tikait also urged the Centre to restore internet services at protest sites so that farmers could put forth their views and demands on social media.

    Besides sending water tankers, the Ghaziabad civic bodies have also re-stationed mobile toilets at the protest site on Saturday, as support for the farmers’ protest swelled with more villagers pouring in at the Delhi- Meerut highway in Ghazipur on the border with Uttar Pradesh.

    The Bharatiya Kisan Union-led protest against the Centre’s new farm laws here looked like it was going slim on Thursday but more protestors have joined the stir, following a mahapanchayat of farmers on Saturday in Muzaffarnagar, while supporters also joined in from Haryana and Rajasthan districts.

    “The movement was and is strong,” BKU’s Meerut Zone president Pawan Khatana told PTI.

    Khatana, who is at the demonstration site with BKU leader Rakesh Tikait, said there has been continuous support for the “peaceful protest” against the farmers’ demand for removal of the new agri laws.

    “This is not a political protest. Anybody who shares the ideology of the BKU and Rakesh Tikait are welcome here. But it is our appeal to those who do not wish to support the movement till the end that please do not come only to leave in between,” he said.

    ALSO READ: Violence on Republic Day scripted by BJP to discredit farmers’ movement – AAP

    Asked about estimated crowd size at the site, the farmer leader from western Uttar Pradesh said, “Farmers are coming in to show solidarity and leaving. It is not a stagnant crowd.”

    On Friday night, the BKU office-bearers had estimated a crowd of around 10,000 people at Ghazipur while the Ghaziabad police officials pegged it around 5,000 to 6,000.

    Heavy security deployment, including personnel of the Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC), Rapid Action Force (RAF) in anti-riot gears and civil police, was made at the protest site.

    Meanwhile, the Delhi Traffic Police said to and fro movement on the National Highway 24 (Delhi-Meerut Expressway) has been closed.

    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 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.

  • People in villages cried, couldn’t sleep when Rakesh Tikait wept: Farmers

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: BKU leader Rakesh Tikait’s emotional outburst over the dim situation of the ongoing farmers’ agitation touched such an emotional chord with people in villages in western Uttar Pradesh that many of them were also moved to tears and felt so restless they couldn’t sleep that night, say several farmers.

    On Thursday night, Tikait, son of legendary farmer leader Mahendra Singh Tikait, wept at the Ghazipur border while talking about the farmers’ protests, whose image took a beating after the violent clashes on January 26.

    But his tears galvanised people, as on Saturday a large number of farmers and other supporters came to the protest site at the Delhi-UP border from not just his home state of Uttar Pradesh but from Punjab, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand as well to show solidarity with the movement.

    “Our village spent a sleepless night. How could we sleep? His gesture had touched our hearts. That night itself people started flocking towards the Ghazipur border protest site to offer water to Tikait ji. His tears had brought tears in our eyes too,” said Pankaj Pradhan, 52, head of Charaura village in Bulandshahr.

    ALSO READ: Violence on Republic Day scripted by BJP to discredit farmers’ movement – AAP

    Pradhan arrived at Ghazipur in the afternoon in a car along with seven others.

    “We were all awake, watching Tikait ji crying. Some were glued to TV sets, others on mobile phones, and we all felt restless. I was moved to tears too, and women too got emotional. His tears touched a chord with everyone and made them connect stronger to the movement,” Pradhan said.

    Gyanendra Singh, who also came to the protest venue from Bulandshahr on Saturday, said he too got emotionally overwhelmed after watching Tikait’s emotional outburst.

    “It was not his tears alone, it was tears of all of us struggling farmers. That’s why I decided to come here again. I had gone back after the Republic Day tractor parade, not because I had lost faith in the movement after the unfortunate incident on Tuesday but because we had come just for the rally,” he said.

    A multitude of green-and-white caps and flags of unions and tricolours planted on tractors, symbolic of the unions fronting the battle, dot the highway at Ghazipur.

    ALSO READ: R-Day violence – Team of forensic experts visits Red Fort to collect evidence

    On various tractors and camps, photos of legendary leaders such as Chaudhary Charan Singh and Mahendra Singh Tikait, and slogans like ‘I Love Kheti’ and ‘Garv se Kaho Kisan ke Putra ho’, seek to pump up the energy among the farmers whose enthusiasm had ebbed away a bit in the wake of the Republic Day violence and fears of a crackdown by security forces on the night of January 28.

    D P Singh, member of the Central Kisan Committee of All India Kisan Sabha who addressed the crowds on Saturday, said Tikait’s emotional outpouring swept people off their feet and “connected them to the common cause even stronger”.

    “Yes, we were emotionally hurt by the incident and all the aspersions cast on us after it. But that incident has not hurt our movement which has only grown stronger, with more solidarity coming from people,” he said.

    Many of the farmers who came from Rajasthan, Uttarakhand and other parts of Uttar Pradesh addressed the crowds at the protest site.

    Some sang songs in Punjabi to boost the morale of the people and to praise Tikait.

    All of them alleged that “attempts were made to malign this movement” and “defame it”.

    They said the agitation has “come out stronger” after such “attempts”.

    Anil Chaudhary, who also came from Bulandshahr, rued what happened at the Red Fort and on the streets of Delhi on January 26, saying “it did hurt our morale”.

    “But, we feel stronger now. Tikait ji’s tears brought me here. Every person in my village is touched by his emotional appeal. Our solidarity will only grow from here, even though they may stack up the odds against us,” he said.

    As the sun slipped towards the horizon in the biting cold, farmers shared tea and sympathy, and reaffirmed their resolve to keep fighting till they reach their goal of seeing the three farm laws repealed.

  • ‘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.

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

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad on Friday met farmer leader Rakesh Tikait at Ghazipur on the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border and said the Dalit group will provide all help to strengthen the agitation against the new farm laws.

    This comes a day after the Ghaziabad administration gave an ultimatum to the agitating farmers to vacate the UP Gate protest site in Ghazipur by Thursday night, even as farmer leader Rakesh Tikait remained adamant saying he would commit suicide but not end the stir Azad reached UP Gate around 6:30 PM with nearly 100 members of the Bhim Army.

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    The Dalit leader said Tikait is the “pride of western Uttar Pradesh” and he would fight shoulder-to-shoulder with the farmer leader.

    “We stand firm with our farmers and will provide all help needed to strengthen their protest,” Azad said.

    He claimed that the government will “try every trick to end this movement and instigate farmers to resort to violence”.

    “I appeal to you not to deviate from the path of non-violence,” he said.

    Earlier in the day, tens of thousands of farmers gathered in Uttar Pradesh’s Muzaffarnagar for a mahapanchayat in a massive outpouring of support for the Bharatiya Kisan Union-led protest against the three new farm laws in Ghazipur.

    The mahapanchayat resolved to throw its full weight behind the protest at Ghazipur, where farmers have been camping for over two months to demand the repeal of the farm laws and a legal guarantee on minimum support price for their crops.

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