UP Gate crowd thinner without stir mascot Tikait
GHAZIABAD: At the UP Gater farmers’ protest site, the union leaders are facing an issue: the number of protesters seem to go up whenever Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) national spokesperson Rakesh Tikait was present, but not otherwise.
Tikait’s popularity soared since January 28 when a video of him in tears went viral. He was seen responding to Ghaziabad district administration’s ultimatum to farmers, following the violence in Delhi on Republic Day, that he would rather surrender than give in. That video gave new life to a protest that was seemingly losing steam after the violence.
“His popularity is growing, and he is now seen as spearheading the protest at UP Gate,” said Gaurav Tikait, president of the youth wing of the BKU and Rakesh Tikait’s nephew. “We have noticed that the number of people does tend to come down when he is not here. Also, many farmers have to harvest sugarcane, which is a major crop in western UP.”
Leading up to Republic Day, the protest site saw thousands of farmers join to attend the tractor rally to Delhi. After the violence, attendance dropped as many feared police reprisal.
“Since the video, people rushed to meet Rakesh Tikait. When he is there, there are easily around 4,000 to 5,000 people. We are trying to keep the numbers the same when he is out for meetings and attending rallies,” said Jagtar Singh Bajwa, a farmer leader from Uttarakhand and member of Up-gate farmers’ committee.
Rakesh Tikait could not be reached for comment. But, he was addressing a rally in Haryana’s Kurukshetra where he asked people to prepare a plan to increase the gathering at places where protesters were fewer.
“The agitation will go on for long and we have given time to the government till October 2. It should not happen that you return home like you did on January 26. Now you make plan to increase the gathering and get prepared to stay for at least five days at the protest site,” Tikait said.
He also told gathering that the incident at the Red Fort was allegedly part of conspiracy.
“It has been over 77 days and the government is not listening. Some youths were taken to the Red Fort. In 1988, when 5 to 6 lakh farmers led by Chaudhary Mahendra Singh Tikait (found of BKU) went to Boat Club in Delhi they were at some distance from the Parliament. But no one went to the Parliament.
We also say many times that we will go to Parliament, but we never went. But the incident of putting up the flag at Red Fort was conspiracy,” Tikait told gathering at Kurukshetra.
Tiakit, who now has a “verified” Twitter account, also took a dig a the speech made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Rajya Sabha on Monday and tweeted on Tuesday while calling himself as “andolan jeevi” who had been fighting for the rights of farmers and poor for past 30 years.
The Prime Minister on Monday strongly defended the three farm laws which he said will largely benefit small and marginal farmers. He also warned country against “andolanjeevis” (those who live off protests).