UP govt in touch with farmer leaders to find a solution

LUCKNOW: A day after the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) announced it would continue its agitation against the new agriculture reform laws at the Ghazipur border and called a mahapanchayat in Muzaffarnagar, the state government said it was in touch with the farmer leaders to find an amicable solution through talks.

Uttar Pradesh additional director general of police (ADG), law and order, Prashant Kumar said the state government had made it clear that it would hold talks with farmers.

The deployment of police at the Ghazipur border in Ghaziabad had been intensified to ensure no law-and-order situation arose there, he said. The force would ensure that no anti-social elements mingled with the farmers protesting at the border, he added.

When asked about apprehension voiced by some that the police deployment could be used to evict the protesting farmers, Kumar said some people expressed baseless doubts and spread them among others.

“We’ve been saying from the beginning that we’ll seek a solution only through talks. There’s peace in UP even today. Our officers are making rounds and talking to farmers. There’s no lack of communication,” he said. Some farmers had withdrawn from the agitation and there was no report of any untoward incident, he said.

Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) national spokesperson Rakesh Tikait on Thursday had announced the agitation would continue after alleging that the government was hatching a conspiracy against him and police force was deployed to evict the farmers in Ghazipur and Baghpat. Late in the evening his brother Naresh Tikait, who heads the BKU, gave the call of a mahapanchayat at Muzaffarnagar. The mahapanchayat was held on Friday.