BKU leader Rakesh Tikait’s tearful appeal has accused farmers of protesting against the centre’s laws.
New Delhi:
Farmers protesting the farm laws will not return home until their demands are met and will not be pressured into holding talks with the center, Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rakesh Tikait said on Saturday. late, after the three-hour farmer. chakka The traffic jam (blockade) of the state and national highways passed peacefully.
Addressing the farmers gathered in Ghazipur, on the border between Delhi and Uttar Pradesh, Tikait also said that the protest would last until October 2 and that the center had until then to repeal the laws, otherwise the groups of farmers agitating against the laws would plan more protests. .
“We will not go home unless our demands are met,” said Tikait, whose tearful appeal following violence during the farmers’ Republic Day tractor rally has revitalized protesters.
“We have given the government until October 2 to repeal the laws. After this, we will do more planning. We will not hold talks with the government under pressure,” he added.
Farmers in various parts of the country, except UP, Uttarakhand and Delhi, conducted a chakka traffic jam today, with roads in the northern states, including the Eastern Peripheral Highway around Delhi, blocked in a peaceful protest.
Roads were blocked at 33 locations in 15 districts, including Sangrur, Bathinda and Barnala in Punjab. The images showed farmers and their tractors camped on the roads in large numbers.
However, although the roads were blocked for regular commuters, the videos also showed farmers quickly pushing aside barricades and letting ambulances and emergency vehicles pass with minimal effort.
Farmers protesting near the Kundli border give way to an ambulance #FarmersProtestpic.twitter.com/tJWIQQ8pRQ
– NDTV (@ndtv) February 6, 2021
Lakhs of farmers across India are determined to have the laws repealed. Tens of thousands have camped around the heavily fortified borders of Delhi since late November.
They say these laws will endanger their livelihoods by, among other things, allowing companies to exploit them. Farmers also fear the loss of the MSP (minimum support price) system.
Several rounds of talks have failed; the center insists that the laws will benefit farmers and the agricultural sector, and has made clear that it will not eliminate them. However, he has offered modifications and an 18-month stay. Farmers have rejected both offers.
the chakka The jam was carried out in several northern Indian states except UP, Uttarakhand and Delhi.
The Supreme Court, which ordered a temporary suspension of the implementation of the laws, set up a committee to negotiate a deal, but farmers say they will deal only with the center.
On Friday, Rakesh Tikait spoke to NDTV and asked why the controversial laws, passed in September amid utter chaos and allegations of breaking the rules, could not be ruled out.
“What is the problem with repealing the laws? When they were not brought in with the consent of the farmers, he does not want the laws, why bring the laws in the first place? They should be withdrawn and replaced by a law in MSP. .. “, said.
“We are just protesting. We are doing something else … We have nothing to do with politics. We have never told anyone who to vote for,” he asked, dismissing ties with opposition parties.
Tikait also emphasized the peaceful nature of the farmers’ protest, which drifted off course and was hit by violent clashes last month on Republic Day.
Yesterday, Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, who last month told farmers that “the ball is in their court now,” told parliament that the protests were limited to “one state,” the Punjab, ruled by the Congress, that farmers were being “instigated” and that critics had “failed to point out a single flaw.”
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