Farmers Movement Archive

‘No mandi can be better than Parliament’

Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rakesh Tikait on Tuesday said the farmers afflicted by the new laws would march to Delhi once again and sell their crops outside the Parliament. “On Republic Day, 3.5 lakh tractors had entered Delhi and we will do this again,” he said. ‘Laying siege’ Addressing a Kisan Mahapanchayat at Vidyadhar Nagar Stadium here, Mr. Tikait said since the government had told the farmers that they could sell their crops anywhere under the new farm laws, “we will prove it to them by selling our produce outside the State Assemblies, Collectors’ offices and the Parliament.” “No mandi can be better than the Parliament,” Mr. Tikait said in the presence of Swaraj Abhiyan’s Yogendra Yadav and Bhim Army’s Chandrashekhar Azad, while calling upon the farmers to lay siege to Delhi from all directions. He said the farmers would observe a day’s bandh on March 26 all over the country to protest against the new laws. The BKU leader said while the government was trying to divide the country on the lines of caste, creed and religion, the farmers would defeat its designs and show unity to get their rights. The cultivators were faced with a situation where big companies had already built their warehouses and the laws were subsequently being enacted to protect their interests, he added. The rally, organised under the banner of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha, received support from a large number of organisations, including CPI, CPI(M), Rajasthan Jat Mahasabha, Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Vikas Parishad and Jamaat-e-Islami Hind. After the Mahapanchayats in several districts of Rajasthan, this was the first major event of Samyukta Kisan Morcha in the State Capital. Bad weather The sudden rain and strong winds in the city uprooted the tents at the rally and one person was injured. The thin attendance at the rally, attributed to bad weather conditions, left the organisers disappointed. The farmer leaders paid homage to freedom fighter Bhagat Singh on his death anniversary at the stage in the rally. An announcement was made on the occasion for appointment of Jat Mahasabha president Raja Ram Meel as BKU’s State unit president and K.C. Ghumaria as general secretary.

The Hindu

2021-03-24

JAIPUR