Muzaffarnagar (UP)/ Chandigarh, Feb 18: The Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) has announced that a tractor march would be held at all district headquarters of Uttar Pradesh on February 21. Farmers would park their tractors on highways going towards Delhi on February 26 and 27 in support of protesting farmers and their demands, including minimum support price.
Addressing a Mahapanchayat at its headquarters in Sisauli, Muzaffarnagar, on Saturday, BKU leader Rakesh Tikait appealed to farmers to show their full strength during the tractor march on February 21. Addressing a huge gathering of farmers, Tikait made a scathing attack on the ruling BJP government and said, “It is a battle to protect ‘nasal and fasal’ ( generation and crop).” Tikait appealed to farmers to show their full strength during the tractor march on February 21 and then park tractors on highways from Haridwar to Delhi on February 26 and 27 without disturbing traffic. The farmer leader accused vested interests of hatching a conspiracy to take over ‘roti’ through the ruling government because they had understood that the business of ‘roti’ was more profitable. People ate ‘roti’ 700 times a year while gold was worn by women barely 17 times a year on festivals and during celebrations. He warned farmers that the government may try to break the unity of farmers but they should be ready to foil any such attempt.
Tikait claimed that he was also approached and asked what he wanted but he said the Sanyukt Kisan Morcha should be contacted instead of an individual . The BKU leader asked the gathering to be ready to spend one-year earnings on the movement because it was a battle of farmers’ survival.
Accept farmers’ demands: Farmer leader Dallewal
The central government should not dilly-dally and accept the demands of farmers before the model code of conduct comes into force, farmer leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal said ahead of a meeting with a panel of Union ministers here on Sunday.
The Lok Sabha elections will be announced next month.
Three Union ministers and farmer leaders will meet here to discuss their demands, including a legal guarantee for minimum support price for crops and farm debt waiver. The meeting comes amid thousands of farmers staying put at the Shambhu and Khanauri points of the Punjab-Haryana border with layers of barricades and a large number of security personnel halting their protest march to the national capital. The two sides – ministers and farmer leaders – had met earlier on February 8, 12 and 15 but talks remained inconclusive.
“We want to tell the government that it should avoid the policy of dilly-dallying,” Dallewal told reporters at the Shambhu border point.
If the government thinks it will continue to hold meetings till the code of conduct is imposed, and then say it cannot do anything as the code is in force”…farmers are not going to return”, he said. “The government should find a solution to our demands before the code of conduct comes into force,” Dallewal said. He said that the meeting will begin at 5:30 pm.
The agitation, he said, has not been sponsored by any political party and reiterated the demands for an ordinance on giving legal guarantee to MSP for crops, implementation of the Swaminathan Commission’s recommendations and debt waiver. Union Agriculture and Farmer Welfare Minister Arjun Munda, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai will be part of the meeting with farmer leaders. (Aencies)
