Farmers Movement Archive

Farmers will take their protest to Parliament: BKU leader Rakesh Tikait

Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rakesh Tikait announced on Wednesday that farmers will be taking their protest to Parliament once the monsoon session starts on July 19. “200 people will go there (towards Parliament) by bus. We'll pay the fare. We'll sit outside Parliament while proceedings will continue in the House. It'll be a peaceful protest. Today we'll have a meeting and we'll plan a strategy,” Tikait told news agency ANI.The Sanyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), an umbrella body of farmer unions, said in a press release that farmers and leaders from Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, and Karnataka who have been protesting at Delhi borders will be taking part in “methodical and peaceful protest” outside Parliament.Calling on non-NDA MPs to take up the farmers' call, SKM said letters will be issued on July 17 to their offices or official residences to ensure they take up the farmers' cause inside the House. "If opposition parties are serious about their support to the farmers, they must take on the Union Govt. in the same spirit of resolve that the farmers are showing by the seven-month-long protest on the streets and borders of Delhi," the SKM said.Also Read: Will farmer leaders contest upcoming assembly polls? A hint from Rakesh TikaitFarmers, who have been protesting at three borders in Delhi for well over seven months now, have been preparing their protest site for the monsoon months. Tent roofs have been reinforced with metal, battery-powered lights have been procured, and cleaning drives to avoid stagnation of water have been undertaken by the farmers, reported PTI.Farmers are also planning to take their protest to Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, the two states due for polls in 2022. “The BJP has a stronghold in these two states, which makes the party believe it is powerful in the whole country. Unfortunately, the opposition is not doing its job, so the Sanyukt Kisan Morcha has emerged as the opposition. We are planning to take out rallies in these two states in September to ensure that the BJP does not win the elections there,” farmer leader Avtar Mehma told PTI.

Hindustan Times

14-07-2021

India