As the news of the sinister plot to occupy Red Fort has emerged, Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rakesh Tikait on Wednesday (26 May) said he will continue his protests to hurt the chances of Bhartia Janata Party’s prospect of winning the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections that will be held in 2022.
This statement has now cleared the fact that these so-called farmer’s protests against the Farm Bill are purely political. Speaking to journalists in a virtual meeting organised by the Indian Women’s Press Corps (IWPC), Tikait said that, if necessary, they are willing to continue their agitation till 2024 when the next general elections take place.
When asked whether RLD leader Ajit Singh’s death has created political space for him“I am neither a Jat leader nor a politician, but I know that the state of farmers is not good in UP, and they are all with us. Be it sale of produce or the state of sugarcane farmers, or even electricity, there are issues that we will take to people,” Tikait said, reports The Economic Times.
Tikait also enjoys support from twelve opposition parties, led by the Congress who, have extended their support to the call given by the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), an umbrella body of over 40 farm unions, for a countrywide protest on 26 May to mark the completion of six months of their agitation against the Centre’s three farm laws.
The Farm Bill introduced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi was to ensure farmers got the full financial benefit of their produce. But it was strongly rejected by some farmers, particularly from the states of Punjab and Haryana who have been protesting for the last six months by blocking the highways leading to
They want an absolute rollback of three agriculture reform laws enacted by the Modi government.
The three laws are Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance, and Farm Services Act, 2020, and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.
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