Farmers Movement Archive

BKU plans stir beyond west UP, to hold panchayats across state

Muzaffarnagar: Farmers’ outfit Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) will now take its protests to eastern Uttar Pradesh, beyond its stronghold of western part of the state, as it prepares to hold panchayats of farmers in the region too against the three farm laws enacted by the Union government. With BJP on their radar, which union leaders accuse of being anti-farmers, the theme of the panchayats will be to motivate people to teach the ruling party a lesson in the crucial assembly polls due early next year. Upbeat with the good response to its mahapanchayat held in Muzaffarnagar on Sunday, where lakhs of farmers gathered on the call of the BKU and Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), the outfit on Thursday said it will hold panchayats across all the 18 divisions of UP. “Preparation is in full swing. We are planning to hold panchayats in every mandal (division) of Uttar Pradesh. Dates will be fixed soon,” said Dharmender Malik, media in-charge of BKU. Soon after the Muzaffarnagar mahapanchayat, opposition SP and BSP had said that the ground was shifting against the BJP’s politics of hatred. Apart from the small panchayats in villages and towns, there will be meetings at division levels too where Rakesh Tikait and other senior leaders of SKM will address the gatherings, Malik said. Farmers had launched their stir against the three agriculture laws last year, soon after they were enacted. While unions say that they will hurt the interests of the growers in the long run, the government is trying to project them as major reform in the agriculture sector.

The Times of India

2021-09-10

Meerut