Cop to farm leader: Tikait’s journey
MEERUT: Rakesh Tikait, to whom the Delhi Police issued a notice asking him to explain why legal action should not be taken against him for breaching the agreement with police regarding the tractor rally on January 26, is himself a former Delhi Police constable.
And the ongoing farmers’ protest, specifically a tearful speech he delivered when all seemed lost, could well mark his ascension as his father’s son. Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) national spokesperson is a prominent name in the farmers’ movement and belongs to the well-known Tikait family of Sisauli village in Muzaffarnagar district of western UP.
His father Mahendra Singh Tikait, one of the tallest farmer leaders of the country and president of the BKU is still remembered as the man who brought Delhi to a halt for 7 days in October 1988 at the boat club. Over 5 lakh farmers joined the movement. Tikait, who, along with his supporters, has been camping on the Ghazipur border , was asked to vacate the site on Thursday. Then came Tikait’s speech, and tractors from Haryana started rolling towards Ghazipur. Farmers in UP organised a Mahapanchayat on Friday to discuss the issue and expressed their support for Tikait. His elder brother Naresh Tikait is the current BKU chief. Born in Sisauli village on June 4, 1969, Tikait went to DAV School of Sisauli and thereafter joined Kisan Inter College in Lalukheri of Muzaffarnagar district.
He briefly served the Delhi police as a constable and resigned during the 1993 farmers’ protest spearheaded by his father. The then government pressured him to convince his father to end the movement, but he refused to give in and opted to resign and join the protest. Tikait was elected national spokesperson of the Bharatiya Kisan Union in 1997.