Rift wide open: Prominent farmer leader leaves site
Sardar VM Singh, who heads the Rashtriya Kisan Mazdoor Sangathan, announced that he was moving out of the protest site at UP Gate; other groups to continue stir
GHAZIABAD: A day after the violence in Delhi, the farmers’ agitation at the UP Gate venue got a major jolt on Wednesday when Sardar VM Singh, a prominent farmer leader who heads the Rashtriya Kisan Mazdoor Sangathan (RKMS), announced that he was moving out of the protest site. Following the Singh’s announcement, the UP Gate protest site committee members quickly reacted by carrying out a march across the entire site to boost the morale of farmers and urged them to continue their agitation.
Singh said that he was upset with the role of Rakesh Tikait, a farmer leader and national spokesperson of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU). “Rakesh Tikait has attended several meetings with the government, but he did not raise the issues of UP farmers regarding the sugarcane rates and pending payments, among others. These issues were never raised before the government,” Singh said at a press briefing held at UP Gate on Wednesday.
The farmers’ tractor rally on the Republic Day had turned violent in Delhi, in which several people, including police personnel, were injured. The Delhi police registered various FIRS against farmers’ leaders and also named Sardar VM Singh.
Singh also narrated the events which unfolded during meetings before the tractor rally. “A day before the rally, we discussed the route with the local administration. Later, it came to fore that Rakesh Tikait
was planning some other route. At UP Gate, I myself went to the camp of Tikait and he agreed that all of us will move together at 11 am on the day of tractor rally. But when we gathered at 10am on January 26, we came to know that Tikait’s group broke the barriers and left,” Singh alleged.
When asked if his decision to withdraw from the ongoing agitation was conveyed to the farmers’ core committee at Singhu Border, Singh replied, “I have no reason to convey the decision to anybody. They are carrying on their protest. We were giving them our unconditional support. But our demands were not kept before the government.”
“I was with BKU’S Naresh Tikait and boarded different tractors at 11am on January 26 from UP Gate. Everything was going on smoothly. But in the
evening we came to know about the incidents in Delhi and also that one protester had died. So, those who instigated people should be punished. I will leave the UP Gate site and have nothing to do with the protest led by Rakesh Tikait,” Singh said.
Over the issue of the FIR naming him, he said that there were about 40-50 FIRS which have been lodged against him in his 20 years of agitational politics.
BKU’S Rakesh Tikait was not available for his comments over the issues raised by Singh. However, Gaurav Tikait, BKU’S youth wing president and son of BKU president Naresh Tikait, denied all allegations against Rakesh Tikait.
“It was the group led by VM Singh which broke the barriers at the UP Gate and the farmers spilled into Delhi. He is just trying to distance himself from the
incidents that took place. We will term him a traitor as he is running away from the agitation and leaving the farmers midway,” Gaurav Tikait said.
Rakesh Tikait on Tuesday had blamed the Delhi police for putting up barricades on the designated routes and also defended the farmers.
On December 16 last year, the rift between the farmer groups was out in open at the UP Gate site when Singh, along with another farmer leader Balraj Bhati, opted to create a new dais after allegedly being “expelled” by several farmer leaders, including Rakesh Tikait. However, a consensus was reached by intervention of several religious leaders and Singh later decided to dismantle the new dais.
Singh’s decision did not go down well with the UP Gate farmers’ committee members and they, along with the farmers, led a major march across the UP Gate area on Wednesday evening and also addressed the gathering of protesters. “It is his decision, not ours. I do not wish to call names for people who abandon agitations midway. We will continue with our agitation and decision by Singh will have no impact as he was out from the agitation for long. He was expelled by the ‘Samyukt Kisan Morcha’ long back and the farmers at UP Gate still stand collective for their demands,” said Jagtar Singh Bajwa, a farmer leader from Uttarakhand and member of UP Gate farmers’ committee.