Farmers Movement Archive

‘Let them hold Kisan Sammelans, they will finally come back to us,’ farmers on Smriti Irani’s Meerut event

Farmers protesting at Ghaziabad’s border with Delhi at UP Gate on Friday said they paid no heed to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’s) Kisan Sammelan in Meerut. Since the start of protests last month, there had been at least six rounds of talks between the central government and the farmers’ leaders over the new agriculture reforms that has caused much apprehension, but failed.The Kisan Sammelan on Friday, attended by Union minister for textiles and Amethi MP Smriti Irani, was projected as the party’s attempt to assuage fears by speaking directly to the farmers on the ground.“Let them conduct more such events across the country but we will not be change our stance. We demand the complete roll back of these laws,” said Rakesh Tikait, a leader and spokesperson for the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) Tikait faction. “In fact, we will urge our supporters to go in large numbers to these events and raise questions. It would be interesting to see if the Union minister replies. Our khaps (communities) have already decided that they will counter these events by holding ‘Jan Jagran Abhiyaan’ in western UP.”“Even the Union minister for agriculture has written to farmers on the so-called advantages of the new laws. But finally they will come back to us leaders of the protest. And, I would like to ask the government where is Covid-19 now? Is it finished? They were lecturing us about the possible spread of the virus at the protest sites. Is there no risk of Covid at these events?,” Tikait said.Thousands of farmers from western Uttar Pradesh led by the BKU (Tikait) and other farmers from Punjab and Uttarakhand have been protesting at the UP Gate since November 28 and have also blocked the Ghaziabad-Delhi carriageway of the National Highway-9. During a ‘Sarv Khap Sammelan’ at the UP-Gate on Thursday, representatives of 10 different Khaps spoke about a “middle path” to resolve the ongoing stalemate and had said that they were willing to move two steps backwards and the government should also follow the same step in order to resume talks and resolve the issue. The Khap representatives had reiterated the farmers’ demand for rollback of three new farm laws. At the event, Irani hit out at the opposition political parties and said that “those who exploited farmers for 70 years” were falsely presenting themselves as their well-wishers to gain political mileage. She addressed farmers and party supporters from different districts of Meerut and Saharanpur divisions. Union minister of state Sanjeev Baliyan and UP minister Suresh Rana had accompanied her. Irani said the BJP government always kept farmers interest first and had provided sufficient budget in schemes for their welfare. ”Farmers had to sell their crop within district (earlier), but now they can go anywhere in the country to sell it. Farmers will have right to decide the price of their crop which will ensure their progress and growth,” she said. (With inputs from HTC, Meerut)

Hindustan Times

18-12-2020

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