Farmers Movement Archive

Tikait heads for Bengal again, to hold for a ‘kisan panchayat’ in Asansol

BKU leader Rakesh Tikait is again headed towards West Bengal where the BJP is engaged in a bitter fight with the ruling TMC in the ongoing Assembly elections.BKU media in-charge Dharmendra Malik said Tikait will address a ‘Kisan panchayat’ in Asansol on April 15. “Earlier, Rakesh Tikait held a ‘Kisan panchayat’ in Nandigram on March 13,” Malik said, adding that the event was being organised by the Samyukt Kisan Morcha, the umbrella body representing protestors camping at the three border points of Delhi at Singhu, Tikri, and Ghazipur since November 2020.Meanwhile, from May 15 the protesting farmers will carry soil collected from 23 states during the ‘mitti satyagraha yatra’ to villages to spread “awareness about the three black laws and encourage others to join the movement”. “Farmers associated with the movement will go to villages, giving some soil and taking some from there. During this yatra awareness about the ‘black’ agricultural laws will be spread and people will be encouraged to join the movement,” Malik said.According to Tikait, farmers protesting the contentious new farm laws are ready to talk if the Centre invites them. However, the dialogue should resume from where it had ended on January 22 and the demands remain unchanged, he said, adding that for talks to resume, the government should invite the SKM. “Talks with the government will resume from the same point where they ended on January 22. The demands are also the same---the three ‘black’ farm laws are repealed, a new law made to ensure MSP for crops,” Malik said, quoting Tikait.At a meeting called by Tikait of six divisions of BKU from western UP on Monday, office-bearers “vowed to continue the fight until the withdrawal of the three laws and legislation on the MSP”. In the meeting, Tikait said farming should not suffer and the movement should also go on. “If farming activities suffers the country will suffer a loss,” he said, urging everyone to maintain the pace of work and also the movement.

The Tribune

2021-04-12

New Delhi