BKU mahapanchayat decides to strengthen farmers’ movement
Ongoing movement is to protect the honour of farmers, says Naresh Tikait; Jayant Choudhary lashes out at central and state governments; support for farmers in east UP too
MEERUT : Thousands of farmers and villagers descended on western UP’s Muzaffarnagar district for the Bhartiya Kisan Union’s (BKU) mahapanchayat on Friday to support the ongoing farmers’ agitation following BKU leader Rakesh Tikait’s emotional appeal, with tears in his eyes, from Ghazipur border on Thursday evening.
After 7-hour deliberations, the mahapanchayat decided to strengthen the farmers’ movement. In eastern UP, a group of social activists, villagers and farmers took out a rally in Nagepur village of Varanasi on Friday demanding withdrawal of the three controversial farms laws and cases registered against farmers.
Nagepur is the second village in Varanasi parliamentary constituency which was adopted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi under the Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojna in 2016.
Addressing the Muzaffarnagar mahapanchayat, BKU chief Naresh Tikait called upon the gathering to strengthen the ongoing farmers’ movement on
Delhi borders by ensuring participation as per their convenience and resources.
Tikait said: “The ongoing movement was a battle for the honour of farmers and, if it ends, it will damage their very existence.” RLD leader Jayant Choudhary, in his address, lashed out at the Modi and Yogi governments and described those as ‘traitors’ who were not supporting the farmers.
It is a tradition in villages in this region that people take oath by holding a pot filled with Gangajal and pour salt in it to affirm their commitment.
Holding a pot filled with Gangajal, Jayant asked the gathering for social boycott of those who were not supporting farmers and their movement. People accepted his request and Jayant dropped salt to seal their oath.
Choudharies of different khaps were also present in the mahapanchayat and they declared their support to farmers. Jayant further said that Baghpat police lathi-charged elderly farmers “on the direction of chief minister Yogi Adityanath.” He said it’s fine to reach at the Ghazipur border but at the same time they can strengthen the farmers’ movement by participating in any nearby movement of farmers.
Earlier, moved by Rakesh Tikait’s appeal, BKU supporters and villagers of western UP held panchayats in their villages on Thursday night and decided to participate in the mahapanchayat, called by Naresh Tikait, in Muzaffarnagar to seek people’s opinion on the way forward for the movement.
On Thursday, a panchayat was also held at Sisauli, headquarter of BKU, to discuss the issue and seek advise of people how to proceed in the wake of new developments at Ghazipur border. In a multiple tweets, Naresh Tikait, elder brother of Rakesh Tikait, said “Tears of the son of Chaudhary Mahendra Singh Tikait and my younger brother Rakesh Tikait will not go waste.”
In another tweet he claimed: “A sea of humanity would reach Ghazipur border” and in yet another one he said: “Hum kisan hai fakeer nahi ki jhola utha kar chal denge.”
The effect of the tweets could be seen on Friday when thousands of farmers from Muzaffarnagar, Shamli, Saharanpur, Meerut, Baghpat, Bijnor and other districts of western UP attended the mahapanchayat.
“Thousands of people arrived for the mahapanchayat and it was self-driven,” said Anuj Baliyan, a resident of Soram village.
Commissioner of Saharanpur, along with DIG U K Agarwal,
remained at the mahapanchayat venue to monitor force deployment and maintain law and order. “We have deployed sufficient force to maintain law and order ,” said the DIG.
Meanwhile, police prevented farmers from going for the mahapanchayat in Bijnor, Hapur and Amroha. Amroha SP Preeti (she goes by one name) said that “we stopped them to check their credentials.”