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‘We once found bombs in Najafgarh’: Rakesh Tikait recalls Delhi Police days
The Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) spokesperson was a member of the force between 1988 and 1995.
Speaking about his Delhi Police days, farmer leader Rakesh Tikait on Thursday recalled being a constable there and working with the bomb squad.
“I wanted to go to the military and undergo commando training. I did not get through the military, but I got through Delhi Police recruitment. Their training was good. We were trained at Moradabad and then I was posted in the bomb squad,” Tikait told PTI.
The Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) spokesperson also talked about finding country-made bombs at a Delhi farmhouse.
“I served in areas of central Delhi. We once found country bombs at a farmhouse in Najafgarh. I said, ‘We should burst these crackers’,” he remarked.
Tikait, who became face of the 2020-2021 farmers' agitation held in the national capital, also recalled “protesting” during his police days.
“In protests, I would not participate on the stage. I did the background work,” he said.
The BKU leader, who was a member of the police force between 1988 and 1985, also stated that his father, ex-BKU chief Mahendra Singh Tikait, never asked the former to quit the police, adding that “I had learned what I had to learn.”
Tikait also talked about how he did his Bachelor of Arts (BA) but did not complete his Master of Arts (MA).
During the interview, the farmer leader was also asked if his family's name had become synonymous with the cultivators' movement in India.
He replied, “We have always said that for generations to come, anyone who is born in the Tikait family, will have to participate in the farmers' movement.”
The BKU is now headed by Rakesh's elder brother Naresh, who has been at its helm since their father's May 2011 demise.
(With PTI inputs)
