Shiv Sena MPs meet farmer leader at Ghazipur border to express support

After its half-hearted show of solidarity with the farmers who had marched into Mumbai last week, the Shiv Sena came out in full support of the agitation on Tuesday

After its half-hearted show of solidarity with the farmers who had marched into Mumbai last week, the Shiv Sena came out in full support of the agitation on Tuesday. Sena members of Parliament (MPs), led by senior party leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut, met farmer leader Rakesh Tikait, who has been at the forefront of the protest against the Centre’s three farm laws, at the Ghazipur border between Delhi and Uttar Pradesh.

Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut with BKU leader Rakesh Tikait at Ghazipur (Delhi-UP border) on Monday, Febuary 2, 2021. (Sakib Ali /Ht Photo)

Raut, along with MPs Arvind Sawant, Vinayak Raut, Rajan Vichare and Anil Desai, met Tikait and other farmers at the border and express solidarity with them. “We met Tikait saheb and gave Uddhavji’s message to him and expressed solidarity. This is not an issue of one state, but of the country’s farmers. The government should speak to farmers in a proper way. There should not be any politics in talks. Ego will not help run the country,” said Raut after the meeting.

The Sena also launched an attack on the Centre over the barricading and fortification of Ghazipur border and said that had the Union government done this at the Indo-China border, the Chinese troops would not have infiltrated eastern Ladakh.

Sena leader and Maharashtra minister Aaditya Thackeray asked if the Ghazipur border was that of the state’s, or the country’s. “The pictures of walls being built and barricades being erected [at the Delhi border] that I’m seeing through media and on Twitter seem like they are at the country’s border against its enemies. Farmers, who feed the country, are being named terrorists and given such treatment is unfortunate. Whatever we do must happen with consent and dialogue with all,” Aaditya told media persons in Mumbai.

The Centre ordered that the Ghazipur border be sealed with barbed wire, concrete blocks and police barricades. Commenting on what many have considered an extreme measure, Anil Desai said, “Looking at this, it seems like it is some other country beyond the barricade. These are extremely unfortunate scenes, which would shame any nation. If protesting farmers, the annadata, are being blocked with barbed wire, then the common man can clearly see in which direction this country is headed.”

Former Union minister Sawant added, “We would have been happy if these barricades and barbed wire were installed at India’s borders with Pakistan and China rather than state borders to prevent farmers from entering Delhi.”

Despite being critical of the BJP-led Central government’s farm laws, Sena’s prominent leaders stayed away from the public meeting of farmers held at Mumbai’s Azad Maidan last week. Instead, the party sent a youth wing leader as its representative. The party was questioned and criticised for the move. Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar, Maharashtra Congress president, minister Balasaheb Thorat and other members of their parties were present at the Azad Maidan event.