Farmers Movement Archive

No talks this time, we want a solution: BKU’s Tikait

Meerut: After spending a night at Siwaya toll plaza, located on the outskirts of Meerut, a large number of farmers led by Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) national spokesperson Rakesh Tikait left for Delhi on Saturday. “We are not in the mood for talks now. We have always been against these farm laws as well as the government’s policies for the farming sector. Talks happen only when two ideologies speak on the same lines,” Tikait said. When asked if he was hopeful for a successful dialogue with the government, Tikait said, “We have been trying to locate the government for the past seven years. I think we may find it this time.” Over 500 farmers accompanied him on Saturday morning and moved towards Delhi on tractors and other vehicles. All the eight NCR districts of Uttar Pradesh witnessed massive protests by farmers on Friday as several highways and key roads leading to Delhi, Uttarakhand and Haryana were blocked. By Friday evening, hundreds of famers and supporters of BKU had reached Meerut’s outskirts. The protests remained peaceful, but commuters had to face harrowing time. Police and administration had diverted the traffic to other arterial roads to minimize congestion. Baghpat, Muzaffarnagar, Meerut and Shamli witnessed large-scale protests as farmers sat on roads leading to long jams. On Saturday, anger among the farmers was palpable. “A propaganda is at work that farmers are being misled. But we are not fools. We are growers and understand economics quite well. These farm laws are against farmers. Even now farmers are forced to sell their cane produce to kolhus below the minimum support price (MSP). Why is the government silent on this? When the government is doing nothing about it now, what will they do when the farm laws are in force,” BKU district general secretary Raj Kumar Karnwal asked. ReplyReply allForward

The Times of India

2020-11-29

Meerut