News Analysis India

Tag: Rakesh Tikait

  • Will continue to protest till farm laws are withdrawn: Rakesh Tikait

    By PTI

    SHAHJAHANPUR: Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rakesh Tikait on Saturday said the farmers will continue to protest at Delhi’s borders till the three controversial agriculture laws are withdrawn.

    He alleged a nexus between the central government and corporates to “rob” the farmers of their hard-earned produce.

    Till the black laws are not withdrawn, the farmers will remain on the borders of Delhi, Tikait, who is the national spokesperson of the BKU, said, adding the farmers were now aware of their rights.

    Tikait and other farmer leaders had come to Bunda tehsil here on the occasion of the 38th death anniversary of Sant Sukhdev Singh to pay homage to him.

    National president of BKU (Chanuni faction) Gurnam Singh Chanuni termed the farmers’ movement as a “dharam yudh” being fought to safeguard the rights of the peasants.

    The intention of the government is to enslave the farmers which will not be allowed under any circumstances, he said.

  • Farmers’ leaders should decide whether they want praise from Pakistan, cautions Union Minister Balyan slamming Rakesh Tikait

    By ANI

    NEW DELHI: Terming Kisan Mahapanchayat a “political gathering”, Union Minister Sanjeev Balyan on Monday slammed Bhartiya Kisan Union (Arajnaitik) leader, Rakesh Tikait for becoming a tool in hands of the country’s rivals.

    Balyan, Member of Parliament from Muzzafarnagar constituency, asked farmer leaders to think about whether they want to be praised by the Pakistan government for their agitation against the Central government.

    Responding to Radio Pakistan tweet about Kisan Mahapanchayat in Muzzafarnagar, Balyan said, “When elections come, everyone indulges in rallies and Uttar Pradesh gets too many rallies. But farmers leaders need to think about whether they want praise from the Pakistan government?”

    “Those who are India’s enemies or oppose us, whether these leaders want to be liked by our rivals like Pakistan. They need to decide this for themselves,” he added.

    He, however, cautioned farmers into getting played in hands of other political parties lending support to agitation to further their own propaganda.

    “It felt like Rajnitik mahapanchayat, a political gathering rather than Kisan mahapanchayat. Farmers issues were barely discussed in that gathering,” observed Balyan. The minister further said that farmers are being misused by various political parties to further their agendas.

    “We saw banners and flags of various political parties in that Mahapanchayat. Everyone knows who took the farmers to Red Fort,” stated Balyan.

    A Kisan Mahapanchayat was held in Muzzafarnagar on Sunday against three farm laws by the Centre and declared that they will campaign against BJP in the upcoming assembly elections. The Mahapanchayat witnessed participation from various political parties.

    Balyan, however, expressed confidence that the BJP would win the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls again.

    “BJP will form government in Uttar Pradesh. The elections are in February and in March we will sit to form the government. We will go to everyone even those who did Mahapanchayat. Even those who are opposing us and will ask for votes” said the union minister who slammed Tikait for taking out a tractor rally during Muzzafarnagar riots against the government.

    “UP hasn’t forgotten the period between 2012 and 2017,” stated the minister.

    UP Assembly polls are scheduled to take place early next year. In 2017, the BJP won a landslide victory winning 312 Assembly seats. The party secured a 39.67 per cent vote share in the elections for 403-member Assembly. Samajwadi Party (SP) bagged 47 seats, BSP won 19 while Congress could manage to win only seven seats.

    Tikait on Monday said that the new agricultural laws are stifling the farmers slowly unlike COVID which will take life at a one go.

    “No one questioned the yataras organised by the government. The laws made by the government are more dangerous than COVID. Pandemic will kill you in one go but the laws of the government will kill people slowly,” he said when asked that a huge number of people gathered at the Kisan Mahapanchayat organised by the Sanyukt Kisan Morcha in Muzaffarnagar can turn to super spreader event as COVID infections soar.

    “The gathering at the Kisan Mahapanchayat at the Muzaffarnagar is proof that people are not satisfied with the work of the government.”

    Tikait also reiterated that they would not leave the Delhi borders till “they emerge victorious”.

    The Sanyukt Kisan Morcha’s ‘Kishan Mahapanchayat’ was held at the Government Inter College grounds in Muzaffarnagar.

    Speaking to ANI, the farmer leader said that BKU does not want to join the politics and instead it is in favour of resolving their issues.

    This comes in response to Union Minister and Muzaffarnagar MP Sanjeev Balyan earlier on Sunday said that if Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) wants to enter politics then the BJP will be welcome them.

    “We do not want to join politics. We just want the issues of farmers to be resolved. There are leaders in BJP who are supporting the farmers. The people know who are the leaders not supporting farmers, they will react according to it. Balyan should support the farmers like Varun Gandhi and Satya Pal Malik,” Tikait said.

    Bharatiya Janata Party MP from Pilibhit, Varun Gandhi had come out in support of protesting farmers and said that the Centre should understand the pain of farmers.

    Farmers have been protesting on the different borders of the national capital since November 26 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.Farmer leaders and the Centre have held several rounds of talks but the impasse remains.

  • False cases won’t deter farmers from protesting farm laws: BKU leader Rakesh Tikait

    By PTI

    KURUKSHETRA: BKU leader Rakesh Tikait on Thursday accused the Haryana government of slapping false cases against farmers and said it won’t deter them from protesting the Centre’s farm laws.

    Maintaining that their stir will continue till the laws are repealed, he warned the state government “not to interfere” in their peaceful agitation.

    “The ruling dispensation in Haryana is trying to appease its political masters by arresting agitating farmers and slapping false cases against them,” he alleged.

    It won’t deter them from holding the protest and their agitation against the laws will continue till the legislations are repealed, Tikait told reporters.

    Replying to a question, he said farmers are united and fighting a long battle with the central government, which is “pro-corporate”.

    “The central government refuses to listen to anyone and whosoever tries to speak against their injustice is branded as anti-national,” he said.

    To another question, Tikait said farmers are sure of their victory and will force the Centre to repeal the farm laws.

    In reply to another question about any campaign against the BJP in next year’s Vidhan Sabha elections in Punjab and UP, Tikait said farmers are mature enough and know everything.

    “They will react and act accordingly, and unitedly during the elections,” he said.

    On Haryana BKU leader Gurnam Singh Chaduni’s earlier suggestion that outfits from Punjab involved in the stir should contest the 2022 assembly polls, Tikait said it could be his own opinion and the Samyukt Kisan Morcha has nothing to do with it.

    He, however, said that Chaduni is part of the Morcha and all are unitedly spearheading the agitation.

    Tikait was here to address a gathering of farmers at Jat Dharamshala to invite them in large numbers to participate in a “Kisan Mahapanchayat” to be held at Muzaffarnagar in UP on September 5.

  • BKU leader Rakesh Tikait bats for stringent land laws in Uttarakhand

    By PTI

    DEHRADUN: BKU leader Rakesh Tikait on Wednesday lent his support to the demand for stringent laws that restrict outsiders from buying land in Uttarakhand and accused the state and the Centre of ignoring interests of farmers.

    He said farmers in remote hill areas of Uttarakhand have been forced to migrate to the plains or to places like Delhi as farming is no longer a viable option for them due to persistent problem of wild animals destroying their standing crops.

    Successive governments in the state have failed to address the problems of farmers, Tikait told reporters at Uttarakhand Press Club.

    Tikait also lent his support to the demand for stringent land laws, restricting outsiders from buying property in the state.

    He also appealed to farmers in the state not to sell their land to outsiders.

    The BKU leader advocated the formation of a village tourism policy for the benefit of the Himalayan states, including Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

    He also spoke against the Centre’s three agriculture laws, saying the government itself suggests amendment.

    “Of what use are these laws if they need to be amended,” he said.

    The farmers’ agitation will go on till the three agriculture laws are withdrawn, he said.

  • Farmers will oust BJP government if it doesn’t repeal agri laws: BKU leader Rakesh Tikait

    By PTI

    GHAZIABAD: Farmers will oust the BJP government if it does not repeal the contentious agricultural laws and enacts a legislation guaranteeing minimum support price (MSP) for crops, farmer leader Rakesh Tikait said here on Monday.

    Tikait, the national spokesperson of the Bharatiya Kisan Union, made the remarks as he held a meeting with the BKU’s office-bearers from Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh at the Ghazipur border here.

    The meeting was held to formulate a strategy to intensify the farmers’ agitation in these states to press their demand for the withdrawal of the three farm laws and the guarantee for MSP, according to a BKU statement.

    “If the laws are not repealed and MSP not guaranteed, we shall force the BJP (government) to quit. We will reach out to farmers and expose the BJP. A government made by farmers cannot stay in power if it is anti-farmer,” the statement in Hindi quoted Tikait as saying.

    However, the influential BKU leader emphasised that the farmers are not against any political party.

    “We are not against any party. We are only against any group which is opposed to the welfare of the farmers and labourers,” he added.

    In his meeting, Tikait held discussions on the BKU’s press conferences scheduled for August 11 in Uttarakhand’s Dehradun and Himachal Pradesh’s Nahan, the farmer union’s media in-charge Dharmendra Malik said.

    The BKU will hold an event in Haryana’s Mewat on August 26 and one in Yamuna Nagar on August 29, he said.

    In September, a ‘kisan panchayat’ will be held in Muzaffarnagar, the BKU’s headquarters in western Uttar Pradesh, he added.

    Hundreds of farmers are encamped at Delhi’s border points of Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur since November 2020.

    They have been demanding that the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020; Farmers’ (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020; and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020 be rolled back and a new law made to guarantee MSP for their crops.

    The government, which has held 11 rounds of talks with the farmer leaders, has maintained the laws are pro-farmer and will usher in new technology in farming.

  • Like Bengal, efforts will be made in UP to create atmosphere against BJP: Tikait

    Farmers will not vote for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) if they do not benefit from the government #39;s policies, the BKU spokesperson said.

  • Farmers’ protest on July 22 outside Parliament will be peaceful: Rakesh Tikait

    By ANI
    NEW DELHI: Ahead of the planned protest of the farmers outside Parliament on July 22, Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rakesh Tikait on Wednesday said the protest would be ”peaceful’ despite the country witnessing violence on Republic Day when protestors reached Red Fort as a part of their ‘tractor rally’ protest.

    The protest will be held between the scheduled dates of the monsoon session, which is said to commence on July 19 and conclude by August 13.

    “It will be a peaceful protest. We will sit outside the Parliament while proceedings will continue in the House,” Tikait told ANI.

    He further said 200 people will go to the Parliament via bus. “We will pay the fare of the bus,” added the BKU leader.

    For planning a blueprint of the protest, a meeting will be held today.

    “Today we will have a meeting and we will plan strategy,” he said.

    Earlier, on January 26, protesters broke barricades to enter New Delhi and clashed with police in several parts of the national capital during the ‘tractor rally’ protest organised by farmers.

    The protestors had also entered the iconic Mughal era monument Red Fort and unfurled their flags from its ramparts.

    Farmers have been protesting on the different borders of the national capital since November 26 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.

    Farmer leaders and the Centre have held several rounds of talks but the impasse remains. 

  • Uttar Pradesh Police stopping people from joining farmers stir at Delhi borders: Rakesh Tikait

    By PTI
    GHAZIABAD: The Uttar Pradesh police is stopping people of the state from joining the farmers’ protest against three central farm laws at Delhi’s borders, Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) spokesperson Rakesh Tikait claimed on Thursday.

    The farmer leader levelled the charge during a press conference at Ghazipur on the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border where he has been leading the protest with hundreds of supporters since November 2020.

    He alleged that several people from Purvanchal area in eastern part of the state were either not getting public transport to reach Delhi or were being stopped by the local police.

    “Trains are not running. If people are found wearing caps or carrying flags (of protesting farmers unions), they are stopped from proceeding to Delhi borders,” Tikait claimed.

    “In UP, people from Purvanchal cannot reach here because regular trains are not in service. If somebody somehow gets a reservation in a train but the information reaches the police, they stop the person from travelling,” he alleged.

    “Today, the situation is such that people cannot come to Delhi to participate in the farmers’ movement,” he claimed.

    Tikait also announced at the press conference that the BKU would be intensifying its protest at district level in Uttar Pradesh from August 1 to highlight the problems being faced by the farming community.

    “We shall be taking this cause directly to the people at district level now,” Tikait said.

    Farmers at three border points of Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur in Delhi are camping since November 2020 with a demand that the Centre withdraw the three new contentious farm laws and make a new one guaranteeing minimum support price (MSP) for crops.

    The government, which has held multiple rounds of official meetings with the protestors, maintains that the laws are pro-farmer.

  • Centre should not put conditions to resume talks with protesting farmers: BKU leader Rakesh Tikait

    By PTI
    CHANDIGARH: Bharatiya Kisan Union leader Rakesh Tikait on Sunday said the Centre should not put conditions if it wants to resume talks with the protesting farmers.

    His remarks come after Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar asserted that the three new central agriculture laws would bring revolutionary changes in the lives of farmers, and made it clear that the government was ready to hold talks with the protestors, except on the demand of the repeal of these laws.

    “We have said earlier as well that we are ready for talks whenever the government is ready. But why are they making it conditional by saying that they will not take back the farm laws?” Tikait told reporters in Rohtak.

    He alleged that the central dispensation was working under pressure of the corporates.

    “…they (Centre) would have talked (to farmers), but they are being run by the corporates,” he alleged.

    The farmer leader earlier addressed a ‘Pink dharna’ by women activists in Rohtak in support of the farmers’ stir against the farm laws.

    In nearby Uchana in Jind district, a mahapanchayat of farmers was also held wherein nine resolutions were passed.

    Jind BKU leader Azad Palwa told reporters that the mahapanchayat resolved to boycott BJP-JJP supported candidates in the forthcoming panchayat polls in Haryana.

    He said if the government does not repeal the farm laws, the candidates of BJP and JJP will face boycott in the assembly and parliamentary polls as well.

    Addressing the ‘Pink-Mahila Kisan Dharna’, Tikait said, “Such a dharna by women activists is possible in Haryana, where women too have been at the forefront of this (farmers) agitation.”

    He said the ongoing stir has now become a ‘revolution of ideas’.

    He added that although the farmers have been protesting against the ‘black farm laws’ for months now, it has not moved the government.

    “There is an undeclared emergency in the country and the people of this country should rise…,” he said.

    Tikait alleged that if the farm laws are implemented, the farmers will ultimately be forced to do petty jobs as their land ‘will be snatched’ by the big corporates.

    Meanwhile, Palwa said during the mahapanchayat, that it opposed the Haryana Recovery of Damages to Property During Disturbance to Public Order Bill, 2021.

    The Bill passed by the state assembly in March allows authorities to recover compensation from violent protesters damaging properties.

    The Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader claimed the Bill was aimed to be used by the government against the farmers agitation.

    The mahapanchayat demanded that the ‘black farm laws’ be rolled back, a law to guarantee crop MSP be framed by the government, government job and Rs 50 lakh compensation be given to next of kin of those farmers who died during the ongoing agitation, all kinds of loans of farmers and farm labourers be waived.

    Resolutions related to women’s security, power issue and to ensure employment to the youth were also passed at the mahapanchayat.

    Later talking to reporters in Uchana, Palwa said two prominent leaders–Haryana Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala and Hisar BJP MP Brijendra Singh–are not standing in support of the farmers in their fight against the farm laws.

    “Through this mahapanchayat, we want to give them the message that they were elected due to the support of farmers and labourers. By the power of the same vote, they can remove these leaders as well,” he said.

    Palwa further alleged that Chautala, great grandson of former deputy prime minister late Devi Lal who was considered a ‘messiah of farmers’, was not standing with the farmers and clinging to power.

    “It was Chaudhary Devi Lal who gave up power for farmers’ sake, whereas Dushyant does not care about the farmers as he does not want to give up power,” he said.

  • Next mission is to derail Modi government, says Mamata Banerjee

    Express News Service
    KOLKATA: A month after winning her third-straight term as West Bengal chief minister, TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday said her goal now is to derail the Narendra Modi-led NDA government at the Centre.

    Meeting the chief of Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) Rakesh Tikait in Kolkata, Mamata called on all Opposition parties to support the farmer’s in their agitation against the Centre’s farm laws. Mamata assured Tikait of her support to the farmers’ movement and said West Bengal will continue to stand with the farmers.

    “The farmers’ movement is not just for Punjab, Haryana or Uttar Pradesh. It is for the whole country. From now, my goal will be to derail the BJP-led Central government. It is necessary for the states to come together to discuss policy issues and stand together against injustice,” said Mamata after meeting Tikait.

    Earlier, the Bengal chief minister had extended her support to the farmers’ agitation. Several TMC MPs had visited the venues along the borders of the national capital where the farmers have been protesting since last November.

    Mamata said there should be a platform where the states could deliberate on the Centre’s policy.

    “Bulldozing states is not good for the federal structure. India is hungrily waiting for policies, which help in fighting coronavirus and assist farmers and the industry,” said Mamata.

    “Ahead of the recent Assembly elections, Tikait had visited Bengal and urged people not to vote for the BJP. Now, Mamata Banerjee is the face of the country, who can stand firm against the BJP. It is now obvious that the farmer leaders will seek our support to further intensify the ongoing farmers’ protest against the Centre’s farm laws,’’ said a senior TMC leader. With the pandemic situation improving, the farmers are planning to intensify the protests again.

    “We thank her (Mamata) for this assurance. West Bengal should work as model state,’’ said Tikait.