RLD chief speaks to Tikait brothers, stresses unity among farmers

MEERUT: Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) chief Ajit Singh spoke to Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) president Naresh Tikait and his brother Rakesh Tikait on the phone to assure them that they were all united in support of the farmers who are demanding repeal of the Centre’s three new agriculture reform laws.

In a tweet, the RLD chief’s son and party leader Jayant Chaudhary confirmed that Ajit Singh had spoken to Naresh and Rakesh Tikait.

He wrote on Twitter that Ajit Singh told them: “Don’t worry. This is a do or die situation for the farmers. We need to remain together and united.”

The telephonic conversation between Ajit Singh and the Tikait brothers and his support to them comes at a time when the RLD is looking to regain its political support base in western UP where Singh and Jayant lost the 2019 Lok Sabha election in Muzaffarnagar and Baghpat respectively.

Ajit Singh is the son of former Prime Minister the late Chaudhary Charan Singh, who is still widely respected by farmers in the region. Earlier in the day, Jayant Chaudhary expressed dismay over the alleged police action against protesting farmers in Baraut area of Baghpat on Wednesday night. He said the government was pitting cops against farmers. “Dignity is required for governance and not might,” he stated. “Police are also sons of farmers and the government’s move of pitting them against each other won’t be accepted,” said Chaudhary.

The RLD leader said no government wanted any opposition against it, but the way the government is treating voices of dissent is unacceptable in democracy. “Show some spine to correct the government for its atrocities against farmers because no government remains forever,” he urged officials. Police action against farmers in the night would add fuel to the fire because elderly farmers sustained injuries in the action, he added. Chaudhary refuted the claims of the police and the district administration that no force was used in dispersing farmers, saying they did it in the garb of some complaint by NHAI in which farmers were accused of hampering construction work on the road.

“They (farmers and people) gathered to support me when I was attacked in Hathras…so how could I leave them at the time of their crisis,” said the RLD leader. Chaudhary had visited the protesting farmers in Baraut twice to extend his support to their movement.

While addressing a panchayat of farmers in Baraut, he had suggested that they keep a record of those leaders who were not supporting farmers during their movement. He had also called upon farmers to teach these leaders a lesson in the panchayat elections.

Sarrorpur Kala, a big village in Baghpat district, was quick to follow his advice where villagers banned the entry of those leaders who were not supporting farmers’ stir. The RLD is considered a party with a support base of farmers. The party suffered a setback 2014 when the young Jat voters drifted away from RLD after the Muzaffarnagar riots of 2013. RLD is now looking to regain lost ground.