GOVT HAS TIME TILL OCT 2 TO REPEAL FARM LAWS: TIKAIT
Says ‘chakka jam’ in UP, U’khand called off after inputs regarding bids to disrupt peace
NEW DELHI: On a day farmers protesting against the Centre’s three contentious agricultural laws are staging a nationwide chakka jam against the laws, Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rakesh Tikait on Saturday said that the farmer leaders have give the central government “time” till October 2 to withdraw the legislations.
“We have given time to the government till 2nd October to repeal the laws. After this, we will do further planning. We won’t hold discussions with the government under pressure,” said Tikait at the Ghazipur protest site, according to news agency ANI.
In an exclusive interview with HT on Friday, Tikait and farm leader Balbir Singh Rajewal, at the forefront of the months-long farmers’ agitation at Delhi’s borders, had reiterated that talks will not resume until the Centre changes its stand on repealing the three laws.
When asked about the government’s proposal to suspend the laws for 18 months, Tikait said: “If we take this [proposal] and enter into talks, that will mean our acceptance of their formula. If they [government] want to go beyond this, the doors to talks can open.”
NEW DELHI: On a day farmers protesting against the Centre’s three contentious agricultural laws are staging a pan-India ‘chakka jam’ against the laws, Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rakesh Tikait on Saturday said that the farmer leaders have given the central government ‘time’ till October 2 to withdraw the legislations.
“We have given time to the government till October 2 to repeal the laws. After this, we will do further planning. We won’t hold discussions with the government under pressure,” said Tikait, the spokesperson of the BKU, who is camping with his supporters on a stretch of the Delhi-Meerut highway since November.
Significantly, October 2 marks the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, known as the ‘Father of the Nation.’
Interacting with the press, he claimed a few inputs had been received regarding some “miscreants trying to disrupt peace” during the “chakka jam” that was announced for 12 noon to 3 pm on Saturday.
“Because of these inputs, we had decided to call off the ‘chakka jam’ in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand,” the 51-yearold Tikait said.
Tikait, the son of late farmers’ leader Mahendra Singh Tikait, who himself led a farmers’ movement in Delhi in 1988 against the Rajiv Gandhi government, had broken down in the face of an impending crackdown by the Uttar Pradesh Police.
Tikait’s tears at the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh Ghazipur border last week revived the anti-farm law protests, after violence during the ‘Kisan tractor parade’ in the capital city on Republic Day threatened to turn public sentiment against the farmers, who had, till then, protested peacefully against the laws.
The video of Tikait breaking down went viral and more farmers from Uttar Pradesh and Haryana rushed to the protest site, forcing the police to retreat.
Amid a stringent security set up installed around the Ghazipur protest site, the farmer leader, flanked by his supporters, also interacted with Delhi Police officials.
“Nobody can touch the farmlands, the farmers will protect it. Both farmers and soldiers should come forward for Tikait said.
Talking to the security personnel who were on the other side of the barricading, he said, bowing his head and folded hands, “My pranaam (a respectful salutation) to you all. Now you all will protect my farms.”
Besides Ghazipur, thousands of farmers are encamping at Tikri and Singhu border points of Delhi since November with a demand that the Centre repeal the three contentious agri-marketing laws, saying these would hurt their livelihoods. However, the Centre, which has held 11 rounds of formal talks with the protesting groups, has maintained that the laws are pro-farmer.
For 72 days, farm unions have camped outside Delhi against the three laws that cultivators say favour big corporations.
The government has maintained that the laws aim to ease restrictions on farm trade by setting up free markets, allow traders to stockpile large stocks of food for future sales and lay down a framework for contract farming.
The government also offered to put the laws on hold for 18 months, but talks are currently locked in a stalemate. it,”