Farmers Movement Archive

Will bring 40 lakh tractors to Delhi, gherao Parl, grow crops at Boat Club: Rakesh Tikait

AGRA: Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rakesh Tikait said on Wednesday that if the Centre does not repeal the three agriculture laws, protesting farmers will bring 40lakh tractors to Delhi and lay siege to the Parliament complex. Addressing BKU’s mahapanchayat in Agra’s Kirawali block, Tikait appealed to farmers to prepare for another “Delhi march”. “Harvest your crops in 20 days and get your tractors ready. Call for a ‘Delhi march’ can be given any time now. Leaders of the Sanyukt Kisan Morcha will decide the date to ‘gherao’ Parliament. Farmers will grow crops at the Boat Club this time. 40lakh tractors will reach Delhi from different parts of the country," he said. Rakesh Tikait’s father and veteran farmer leader Mahendra Singh Tikait had laid siege to the Boat Club lawns with lakhs of farmers in 1988. Tikait during the Agra mahapanchayat also alleged that attempts were being made to divide farmers and break the stir. “They tried to divide us on the lines of different states. Then on the ground of small and big farmers. Then on the basis of caste. They tried to create friction between farmers on religious lines also. They tried to malign the image of the Sikh community. Their plan was to create an anti-Sikh riot. We have to save ourselves from such conspiracies and stay united,” Tikait told a 10,000 strong gathering. Without naming anyone, he said, “‘Yeh badi tanasahi sarkar hai, ye luteron ka akhri badhsha sabit hoga’ (This is dictatorship. He will prove to be the last king of robbers).” The outfit’s Agra chief Rajveer Lawaniya said, “Police and local authorities, on the instructions of the state government, stopped tractors carrying farmers for this mahapanchayat. Delegations of farmers from Rajasthan were also stopped. Defying all odds and despite the harvest season, over 10,000 farmers had come.”

The Times of India

2021-02-25

Agra