‘Delhi won’t be able to bear our pressure’

MEERUT: The Bhartiya Kisan Union’s ( BKU) ‘Kisan Kranti Yatra’ is drawing huge crowds, with thousands of farmers joining it everyday as it advances towards New Delhi.

The participants said they are raising their voice against the “pitiable conditions” of cultivators.

“Farmers have come out on roads because they are facing multiple problems and nobody is paying heed to their genuine demands. With both centre and state governments ignoring our demands, we have no option but to fight for our rights,” said BKU president Naresh Tikait after the yatra reached Meerut on Friday night.

He said the BKU had decided to give voice to 21 demands of farmers, including waiving off agricultural loans, calculating minimum support price on basis of Swaminathan Commission’s formula ‘C2’, declaring MSP for all major crops, vegetables and milk, and ensuring guarantee of their purchase among other demands. Tikait said that with

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Farmers have come out on roads because they are facing multiple problems. With both centre and state governments ignoring our demands, we have no option but to fight for our rights

NARESH TIKAIT, BKU president

the number of participants swelling with every passing day, the government needed to resolve their issues promptly.

“Otherwise, Delhi won’t be able to bear the pressure of our numbers in the coming days,” he said. Due to the heavy influx of farmers and the BKU activists, police blocked one side of the national highway 58 to facilitate regular traffic on Saturday, when the Yatra left Meerut.

This led to traffic snarls near the city in the afternoon. The Kisan Kranti Yatra started from Haridwar on September 23 and will conclude at Kisan Ghat in Delhi on October 2.