Farmers Movement Archive

Laws are not set in stone: Jayant

At the farmer panchayat in Mathura on Saturday, Rashtriya Lok Dal vice president Jayant Chaudhary said laws were not set in stone and could be changed according to the wish of the people. He was speaking at the massive rally called by the Bharatiya Kisan Union in Bajna in solidarity with its leader Rakesh Tikait who is protesting against the farm laws at the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border for more than two months. He asked the Uttar Pradesh government that if the laws were so beneficial to farmers, why was the panchayat election notification being delayed. “I challenge Yogiji to issue notification for panchayat elections,” he said. Addressing an assembly of around 20,000 farmers at the Morki Inter College grounds in Bajna, Mr. Chaudhary said raising voice against a law doesn’t make a person anti-national. “We have a right to protest against laws that are inadequate. Had that been the case, the colonial era Land Acquisition Act would not have been changed.” The Act was changed in 2013 after Mr. Chaudhary introduced a Private Member’s Bill on land acquisition in the Lok Sabha. Battle of ideology He appealed to youngsters to participate in protests and asked the farmers to make a diary noting names of those who are not with them in their ordeal. “Such people need to be boycotted socially. We don’t have any personal issue with them. It is a battle of ideology with those who feel that today they are farmers but tomorrow they would vote as Hindus,” he asserted. “As long they won’t realise the damage that your vote could cause, they would keep deceiving people,” he added. After the emotional outburst of Mr. Tikait on Thursday, BKU is holding rallies in different parts of western Uttar Pradesh where the RLD cadre is also turning up in large numbers. On Sunday, a rally of different khaps has been called in Baraut tehsil of Baghpat where farmers were forcibly removed by the police earlier this week. On February 1, another rally has been called in Kandhla village of Shamli district.

The Hindu

2021-01-31

Ghaziabad