Farmers Movement Archive

Gathering of crowds changes government, says Rakesh Tikait

Ghaziabad:Taking a dig at Union agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar’s remark that mere gathering of crowds “does not lead to revocation of laws”, Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rakesh Tiakit on Monday said that the “gathering of crowds changes government”. “You purchase crops at half the rates and say that farm laws are beneficial. The minister says that gathering of crowds doesn’t lead to change of laws. They (the government) should understand that gathering of crowds changes governments... Presently the youth here are asking to take back the three farm laws but so far they have not given a call to change the power. They (the government) should understand this and talk to our committee,” Tikait told a panchayat in Kharkhoda, Haryana. Tikait, who is spearheading the ongoing farmers’ protest against the Centre’s three new farm laws at the UP Gate in Ghaziabad, is doing a series of rallies in Haryana to garner support of farmers and also of various Khap Panchayats who hold social dominance. Tikait reiterated that the government should hold talks with the committee comprising members of farmers’ unions. The last time when the government representatives and the farm unions’ committee members met each other for discussions was January 22 and thereafter no talks could be held. “The government should know that they are nothing in front of farmers who can destroy their crops. They should not forget that these are our own tractors (which went to Delhi on the Republic Day) and not the ones roped in on rent...,” Tikait said. On Sunday, Union minister Tomar had told reporters in Gwalior that the government is ready to hold talks and also make amendments if need be and urged the agitating farm unions to tell the government which provisions in these new laws they find anti-farmers. “Considering the issue with sensitivity, the government has held 12 rounds of talks with the farmer unions. But decisions on the basis of talks could be taken when objections (over the new farm laws) are pointed out,” Tomar had said. “You flatly say revoke the laws...It doesn’t happen that crowd gathers, and the laws get revoked,” the minister had said. The BKU national spokesperson further said that the ongoing agitation is also of poor farmers who have two cattle and even the poor who get food from ration shops, besides the vendors who put up shops in weekly markets. “The protest is not against just three laws, as more such laws will come. They will go out of hands if we do not put brakes now. They have got a lot of power given to them by farmers and the common man. So, we have to ‘break their nose’ and after that a child will also be able to make them work. After this they will take back the new laws and also the laws which they wish to bring in,” Tikait added. He said that the farmer unions have spread the message to the farmers in West Bengal and Assam that their rice crop should be sold on minimum support price (MSP). The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), an umbrella body of about 40 farmer unions, from the Singhu border also criticized the remarks made by the Union agriculture minister. “We would like to remind Shri Tomar and others in the government that the current protests are a consequence of deep unhappiness and anger that was allowed to build up in farmers’ minds by the government. Today, farmers are getting support from all sides, nationally and internationally. The protesters are not a crowd, but our annadata, thanks to whom we are all alive today, including people in the government,” SKM said in a press statement issued on Monday.Meanwhile, Chandra Mohan, secretary of UP unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party, criticized the remarks made by Tiakit. “The language used is not called for in a democratic set-up. However, this shows the frustration of these people and also that their ongoing agitation has failed. The farmers of the country stand with the Prime Minister,” Mohan said.Thousands of farmers since November last year are on a protest at various borders of Delhi, including the one at the UP Gate protest site. They have been demanding repeal of the three farm laws and a new law on MSP. The government during the last meeting had proposed that it was ready to hold the implementation of the three laws for a period of one and half years. The proposal was rejected by the farmers’ unions.

Hindustan Times

22-02-2021

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