Farmers Movement Archive

After Narendra Singh Tomar's offer, Rakesh Tikait says ready for unconditional talks

BATHINDA: The Sanyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) is ready for dialogue with the central government, the farm outfit’s senior leader and BKU spokesperson Rakesh Tikait said on Monday while reacting to the offer by Union agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar. Let the Union government send some proposal and morcha leaders will decide on it as the matter concerns the farmers of the country, he said. “The SKM will never shy away from talks. We know that talks are the only way to find a solution and the central government must decide on when to hold them. They cannot be held with any pre-conditions, these (talks) should be unconditional,” he said while speaking during a live session of the SKM’s IT cell forum. Regarding the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s previous offer of “the government is a phone call away and let the farmers make that call”, Tikait said it was regarding the Centre’s offer of putting the three contentious farm laws, against which the farmers are protesting, on hold for 18 months. “We had rejected that offer and the matter was closed. Now Tomar is talking about resuming talks, but it seems to be lip service only. If the government is really serious about it, it should give the talks a practical shape. Farmers are here to stay (on protest) for any number of months,” the BKU leader said. Alleging that the corporates had already been alerted about putting in place the infrastructure and godowns prepared, Tikait said farm laws were brought in later, which is why farmers are opposing them. He added that various crops were not being sold at the minimum support price (MSP) in most states and it is left to the farmers to demand a legal guarantee of MSP. T3 formula to oppose farm laws BKU leader Rakesh Tikait has proposed T3 formula — tractor, Twitter and tank — to oppose the ‘machinations’ of the central government. The ongoing struggle against the central farm laws will be won only when farmers learn to use tractor, youngsters use Twitter to create an environment in their (farmers) favour and defence personnel lend them the support, he said. Many agree on employing “tractor and Twitter”, but they are not convinced about employing tank as one of the tools in farm struggle, but Tikait has its own way of thinking, a farm leader pointed out.

The Times of India

2021-04-13

Amritsar