Farmers Movement Archive

Ready to continue fight for 10 years, says Rakesh Tikait

A day before Bharat Bandh against the three agriculture laws, farmer leader Rakesh Tikait on Sunday said farmers will continue this fight for even 10 years until the government accepted their demands.Addressing a “Kisan Mahapanchayat” on the completion of 10 months of the farmers’ agitation in the country, Tikait said repealing the laws was the only solution to end this agitation: “I want to make it clear that the government will have to repeal these laws as we will not allow their implementation at any cost.” “Had the government read farmers’ history, it would not have brought these laws. We are sons of the soil and can force the government’s face into it to compel it to meet our demands,” he added.Tikait also accused the government of spreading misinformation about farmers through its IT cell, by giving religious and caste colours to the agitation. “We are strong enough to fight them if they fight from the front. But they are attacking from the back with the help of their IT cell to spread propaganda against farmer leaders,” he said, urging young farmers of the country to join this fight and counter these tactics. “This is a fight between the poor and the rich, the villages and Delhi. We need support from the youth to counter their false information on social media platforms,” he stressed. Warns BJP in poll-bound statesThe farmer leader from Uttar Pradesh also warned the ruling BJP that the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) will go to all poll-bound states and launch a campaign against the party if the laws were not repealed.“We again request them to repeal these laws at the earliest, otherwise the SKM leaders will visit every poll-bound state, including Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, to oppose your candidates in the coming elections,” he said, adding that the BJP had lost its ground. ‘Talk to Centre to open roads’Reacting over Haryana government’s panel, formed to open roads blocked on the Delhi-Haryana borders, Tikait said, “There was no need to form a committee to talk with farmers, as these roads were blocked by the Union government.”The Haryana government should instead talk to the Centre, as the roads were blocked by the Delhi police to stop farmers from going to the Parliament for protest, he said.‘Tractors ready to reach Delhi anytime’Hinting at another tractor march in Delhi, Tikait urged farmers to keep their tractors ready as they may get a call for another tractor march from the SKM. He also thanked farmers from Uttar Pradesh for not attending a “parallel rally” in Muzaffarnagar and coming to Panipat.Another farmer leader from Haryana Gurnam Singh Charuni threatened to start a protest at the Prime Minister’s residence if the demands were not met soon.

Hindustan Times

27-09-2021

Chandigarh