Farmers Movement Archive

Rakesh Tikait's tears do the trick; protesters increase at Ghazipur border

BKU (Tikait) spokesperson Rakesh Tikait's tears appear to have done the trick as the number of protestors at Ghazipur increased with farmers from Uttar Pradesh and neighbouring Haryana joining in at the protest site on the Delhi-UP borders.Reports suggest that throughout Thursday night, meetings in his support were held in several villages in Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.Naresh Tikait, president of farmers' union founded by their late father Mahendra Singh Tikait, said in Muzaffarnagar that the over two-month-long farmers' agitation at Ghazipur was ending. There were visible signs of protest thinning at Ghazipur as police presence increased.Rakesh Tikait, however, said he will continue the sit-in protest at the Ghazipur border and will not vacate site till talks with the government are held."Administration has removed basic facilities including water and electricity supply. We will get water from our villages," Rakesh Tikait said after a notice from the Ghaziabad administration to the farmers to end their protest.Stating that he will not surrender and will even call more people to join the protest if needed, Rakesh Tikait broke sown saying that "he would rather commit suicide than leave and end the protest against the farm laws".Mahendra Singh Tikait is revered by farmers as "second messiah" after late Prime Minister Chaudhary Charan Singh in the western UP region.The farmers' agitation received a jolt when the protesters who took part in a tractor rally wreaked havoc on the roads of Delhi on Republic Day.The police said unions had promised to carry out their rally in protest against the three central farm laws on approved routes, but deviated from it and marched towards central Delhi.

The Tribune

2021-01-29

New Delhi