Bhartiya Kisan Union leader Rakesh Tikait on Wednesday threatened the Centre with yet another tractor rally, alleging that if farmers’ demands are not met, then 30 tractors will march towards the Parliament on November 29, the day when the winter session of the Parliament is to commence.
“On November 29, 30 tractors and 500 people will march to the parliament to press the Centre for a statutory guarantee on the minimum support price(MSP) on crops. Besides, we will also demand the centre to pass the Seed bill, Pesticide bill, withdrawal of cases against protesters lodged across the country and compensation to the families of protesters who died during the year-long agitation,” Tikait said while adding that they will march to the Parliament in order to convey their demands to the Centre.
#Breaking | Rakesh Tikait threatens the government says if the demands are not met then 30 tractors will march towards the Parliament on November 29th.@RakeshTikaitBKU shares his views with @PrashastiMedia
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However, while talking to ANI, Rakesh said more than 60 tractors and 1,000 people will be heading towards the Parliament on November 29. “The tractors will go through the roads, which have been opened by the government. We were accused of keeping the roads blocked. We did not block the road. Blocking the roads is not our movement. Perhaps, our movement is to talk to the government. We will straight go to the Parliament,” Tikait told news agency ANI.
Rakesh Tikait had threatened to continue protests after PM Modi announced withdrawal of farm laws
Earlier last week, Rakesh Tikait had said that the farmers will continue their protests against farm laws regardless of PM Modi’s announcement that the Centre would repeal the agricultural bills in the forthcoming parliamentary session.
PM Modi, addressing the nation on November 19, said that by the end of this month, the Centre would complete the process of repealing the three farm laws. He then appealed to the protesting farmers and middlemen to return to their homes on this Gurupurab and stop their protest. He further said that the government will form a committee to formulate laws for the benefit of the farmers.
He further said that the government had introduced the laws after due deliberation but perhaps it was the shortcoming of the government that they could not convince all farmers that the laws were indeed in their benefit. Further, he said that the past governments had deliberated on these laws as well but it was the Modi government that had implemented them.
He said that all his decisions were in the interest of the nation and he will continue to work for the benefit of the nation.
However, Tikait continued his intimidatory tactics against the government, insisting that the protest would continue unless the farm laws are repealed in the Parliament. “The farmers’ protest will not stop immediately, we will wait till the day when agricultural laws are repealed in Parliament. Besides MSP, the Centre should also discuss other issues with the farmers,” Tikait tweeted.
Over the week, as Tikait and his supporters felt emboldened by PM Modi’s decision to withdraw the farm laws, their list of demands, which was earlier limited to the invalidation of the farm bills, has steadily swelled. A day after PM Modi announced that the farm laws will be repealed, BKU leader Rakesh Tikait shared an ever-growing list of demands, stating that they would not back down unless the government fulfils all of them.
“The protest is not over yet and the government is yet to clarify its stand on MSP. We have been demanding a law guaranteeing it and also a committee for farmers,” Tikait said. “There are other issues as well as over 700 protesters (a number given by the Samyukt Kisan Morcha) lost their lives in one year of protest at Delhi’s borders and the government will have to do something for their families,” he added.
