Farmers Movement Archive

Our struggle will be written in golden letters: Rakesh Tikait

Muzaffarnagar: Bhartiya Kisan Union's (BKU's) national spokesperson Rakesh Tikait was given a hero's welcome on Wednesday as he returned home to his village, Sisauli, after over 380 days of protests. “Our struggle will be written in golden letters,” he said while addressing farmers here. "I will continue to fight for farmers' rights till my last breath," he said, adding he has no plans to contest elections and cautioned against using his photo on political hoardings. "I have nothing to do with any political party," he clarified. Laddoos were distributed at every crossing on the Meerut-Muzaffarnagar highway and langars were organised every 25 km from Ghazipur to Muzaffarnagar. The Union's headquarters was decked up like a wedding venue. Tikait was seemingly emotional seeing the reception of his procession, which he called the farmers’ “victory march”. The procession began from the Ghazipur border and ended at Sisauli. The BKU leader was showered with flowers on his arrival. He shared his garlands with the elderly and hugged his younger supporters. Tikait's wife, Sunita Devi, who was desperately waiting for her husband to come home for the past one year, lit hundreds of diyas to welcome him at their house in Jaat Colony, Muzaffarnagar city. "My husband is coming home after 383 days today. The number of lamps I should light in his welcome shall be no less. Just as Lord Ram came back to Ayodhya, my Ram is coming home today," she said. Tikait had not gone home ever since the start of the farmers' movement. Before leaving the dharna spot in Ghazipur, a havan was performed in the morning on Wednesday at the UP Gate, near the Delhi-Meerut Expressway, for the well-being of farmers. Farmers then loaded their temporary settlements, which were erected at the protest site over the past year, onto their tractor trolleys. Before reaching Sisauli, Tikait was welcomed at the Soram village, where he addressed a gathering on the "Soram Ka Chopal". Many farmers' movements had been announced from the site over the past several decades. Tikait's father, the late Mahender Singh Tikait, held many panchayats here. "Tikait made us proud. He sacrificed an entire year for us farmers," said Satyveer Singh, a resident of Soram village. The BKU, an influential farmers' union, is part of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha, which spearheaded the protests against the Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, Farmers' (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020, and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.

The Times of India

2021-12-16

Meerut