Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rakesh Tikait said farmers protesting against the central agriculture laws on Delhi’s borders since November “are not going anywhere” and would intensify their agitation in the coming days with a ‘tractor kranti’ - a mega rally that would not be restricted to Delhi but held nationwide. “We will neither leave the protest, nor the government,” said Tikait. “We give time to the Centre till October to take back the farm laws and ensure guaranteed MSP. If our demands are not met, we will plan and intensify our agitation elsewhere in the country from October 2,” said Tikait.
The BKU did not enforce a chakka jam at UP Gate on Saturday so that it doesn’t inconvenience sugarcane farmers but protesters at UP Gate on the Ghazipur border blared horns for a few minutes to mark the end of the transport blockade farmer unions had announced.
Farmers block a highway in Patiala
Though the UP Gate protesters did not make any attempt to enforce the ‘chakka jam’, they kept Delhi Police engaged at the Delhi border, sapling in hand. Delhi Police reclaimed the part of the highway where Tikait and a few other farmers had planted saplings, next to a sheet of iron spikes that the cops installed there as tyre killers. But as Delhi Police removed the mound of soil the farmers had heaped there and barricaded the spot again, the farmers ‘claimed’ an adjacent piece of land to again plant saplings. “They have also increased police presence in the area. But we will keep growing our crops even if you sow nails in our path,” Tikait said.
Asked about the resumption of talks with the Centre, Tikait said, “We will not talk under duress. Talks this time will be conditional. Apart from repealing of farm laws, we will also focus on guaranteed MSP for farmers.”
Tikait gets support
Rsponding to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s assertion that minimum support price (MSP) would continue to remain in place, Tikait asked why his government was not bringing a law to make it legally binding. He also accused the Centre of “confusing people when it says that MSP is there and will continue to remain. If it’s that simple, why doesn’t the government bring a law that guarantees MSP? After all, this is one of our demands,” said Tikait. “We never said that MSP is being scrapped. But there is also no law that makes it legally binding on the government. In the absence of guaranteed MSP, influential traders are looting the farmers. We will not allow people to do business when we go hungry,” he added.
The BKU leader also sought to counter the government’s allegations that the agitation was being used as a platform by many political parties. “Politicians and their parties are supporting the farmers’ movement. But neither are they seeking votes here nor are they being allowed to make political statements. When such is the case, how can they say that the agitation has become politically motivated?” Tikait asked.
Over the past few weeks, senior functionaries of various opposition parties, such as AAP, Congress, INLD and Shiromani Akali Dal, have visited UP Gate and extended their support to the agitation. Later, the protest at UP Gate received the support of the heads of 12 religious organisations. Prominent among them was the shankaracharya of Kashi Sumeru Peeth, Swami Narendranand Saraswati.
“This government has adopted a rigid approach against farmers. I suggest the government shed this attitude and accept their demands without any delay,” said Swami Narendranand. “I will pray to God that good sense prevails,” he added. Tikait also got support in the form of his wife, Sunita Devi, who visited the protest site at UP Gate. “Neither the farmers nor this government is ready to blink. In my opinion, the government should pay heed to the farmers’ demands,” she said.
Give farm laws a chance: Modi
Prime Minister Narendra Modi made an ardent appeal to protesters to give the new farm laws a chance even as he questioned opposition parties for their sudden "U-turn" on the need for reforms in the agriculture sector. Participating in the debate in Rajya Sabha on the motion of thanks to the President’s address, Modi renewed his offer for talks and said the door on negotiations had not been slammed shut but stood by the reforms, saying they were the need of the hour and could not be put off any longer. "It is indisputable that this is the right time to make agriculture profitable and we should not waste this opportunity. We need to progress, we cannot allow the country to slide and we need to give the reforms a chance to see whether they are beneficial or not," he said. Modi also sought to allay the worry that the reforms might spell the demise of MSP and mandis or APMCs. "MSP was there, MSP is here and MSP will remain in future," the PM said.
