Mahapanchayat in Muzaffarnagar: Farmers to stage dharnas in four states on Feb 21, says Tikait
BKU leader Rakesh Tikait announced that farmers will also stage dharnas in Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab and Uttarakhand on February 21 to press their demands. Speaking to reporters after attending the mahapanchayat, Tikait said a resolution was passed during the meeting asking the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) to launch a tractor march to Delhi in the last week of February if the government does not accept farmers’ demands.
The Bharatiya Kisan Union’s mahapanchayat organised at its headquarters in Sisauli, Muzaffarnagar, on Saturday announced that a tractor march would be taken out in all district headquarters of Uttar Pradesh on February 21. Thereafter, farmers would park their tractors on highways going towards Delhi on February 26 and 27, in support of the protesting farmers and their demands, including a legal guarantee of minimum support price (MSP) for crops.
BKU leader Rakesh Tikait announced that farmers will also stage dharnas in Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab and Uttarakhand on February 21 to press their demands. Speaking to reporters after attending the mahapanchayat, Tikait said a resolution was passed during the meeting asking the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) to launch a tractor march to Delhi in the last week of February if the government does not accept farmers’ demands.
Addressing a gathering of farmers at the mahapanchayat, Tikait made a scathing attack on the ruling BJP government and said, “It is a battle to protect ‘nasal and fasal’ (generation and crop) which has been captured by the corporates.”
Describing the ruling government as a ‘gang of capitalists which has taken over the government’, he said nothing was in the hands of ministers, MPs and MLAs.
Tikait appealed to farmers to show their full strength during the tractor march on February 21 and then park tractors on highways from Haridwar to Delhi on February 26 and 27 without disturbing traffic.
The farmer leader accused corporates and capitalists of hatching a conspiracy to take over ‘roti’ through the ruling government because they had understood that the business of ‘roti’ was more profitable. People eat ‘roti’ 700 times a year while gold is worn by women barely 17 times a year on festivals and during celebrations.
He warned farmers that the government may try to break their unity, but they should be ready to foil any such attempt.
Tikait claimed that he was also approached and asked what he wanted but he said the SKM should be contacted rather than speaking to an individual.
He asked the gathering to be ready to spend one-year earnings on the movement because it was a battle for farmers’ survival.
He said the BKU was with the ongoing protest and movement of farmers irrespective of the fact that the call was not given by the SKM.