Farmers Movement Archive

Do not vote for BJP, Rakesh Tikait tells Nandigram mahapanchayat

KOLKATA/NANDIGRAM: The Sanyukta Kisan Morcha, which on Saturday kicked off its campaign in the districts, said that an end to the farmers’ stir in New Delhi depended largely on the people in Bengal, which is going to polls in a fortnight. While it left the choice of the party to vote for to the voters, it urged people not to vote for the BJP. “Farmers have not gone back home from the protest places around Delhi for the last one-and-a-half months. When will the protesting farmers struggling on the borders of Delhi meet their families, depends to a great extent on the citizens of Bengal,” said Swaraj India’s Yogendra Yadav. Appealing to farmers, Yadav said that only a farmer will understand the pain and suffering of another farmer and that’s why they were travelling to the districts. On Saturday morning, Bharatiya Kisan Union chief Rakesh Tikait reached Kolkata airport, where he was greeted by Trinamool Congress leader Dola Sen. Tikait, who has been spearheading the farmers’ movement against the Centre’s farm laws, took part in a mahapanchayat organised at Nandigram from where CM Mamata Banerjee is contesting. He said Nandigram — known for the farmers’ agitation during the Left Front regime — will give a new direction to the movement against the farm laws. Tikait said if BJP had fixed its eyes on Bengal, then it was also a target of farmers across the country. “Bengal is farmers’ target as well. We will travel across Bengal and talk to farmers. We will appeal people not to vote for BJP, which has ruined the country,” said Tikait. Addressing the rally in Nandigram, Tikait said, “I will tell you ki khela hobe (what the game will be). Whenever they come to ask for a fistful of rice from you, you ask them about the Rs 1,850 (per quintal) price they had promised. Our movement in Delhi is to ensure that for farmers in all states. The big corporates are coming even to procure fish and fishermen won’t be spared too.” Condemning the attack on Banerjee, Tikait said: “A woman is fighting alone from here… it should not have happened.” Tikait is likely to take part in a mahapanchayat at Singur on Sunday — the epicentre of the farmers’ movement against land acquisition led by the Trinamool. “We are not trying to tell the people of Bengal whom to vote for, but we appealed not to vote for the anti-farmer BJP. We are not advocating for any special party. We have only one appeal — do not vote for the lotus symbol even by mistake,” Yadav said at a meeting in Kolkata.

The Times of India

2021-03-14

Kolkata