Farmers Movement Archive

Fight for farmers’ dignity: BKU

Adopting an aggressive tone at a massive “kisan panchayat” in Bilari town of Moradabad on Friday, Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) president Naresh Tikait said, “98% Hindus voted for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) but after the farmers’ protest, only 2% will remain with it.” More than the farm laws, he said, the farmers’ protest had become a fight for protecting the “dignity” of farmers. “If we let it wither away, nobody would take the name of farmers for the next 30-40 years,” he said. He said that when the government had silenced everybody, it was the BKU that had “reined in the government”. “The government has made numerous false allegations against us in the last 78 days. I am confident people will answer them in the coming days,” Mr. Tikait said. He said that this was not the first time that farmers had protested against a government but “we have never been insulted like this before”. “We have been ridiculed as andolanjeevi , called part of a jamaat . Panchayat is being called a jamaat . They will have to repent for this,” he said. “After 2013, an attempt was made to divide us on the basis of religion. Many of us were misled. We should give up our differences,” he said. Meanwhile, responding to PM Narendra Modi’s statement that the minimum support price (MSP) would remain, Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) vice-president Jayant Chaudhary said, “MSP is only on paper. The MSP of paddy is Rs. 1,868 [per quintal] and the rate that the farmers got this year is Rs. 1,200 [per quintal]. The same happened with soybean and mustard.” He was addressing a large gathering in Mathura district.

The Hindu

2021-02-13

Ghaziabad