Maharashtra farm union leader threatens to blow up RSS HQ & Mohan Bhagwat; enroute Delhi

In a shocking statement, Arun Bankar, secretary of Maharashtra State Kisan Mahasabha, has threatened to blow up the RSS head office in Nagpur and its chief Mohan Bhagwat, if demands of the protesting farmers aren't met. On his way to join the ongoing farmers' movement in Delhi border, Bankar said that PM Modi has to take one step back as he is afraid of the farmers. An FIR has been lodged in Betul Kotwali against Bankar. The case has been registered under Section 505, 506 after a complaint by BJP District President Babla Aditya Shukla. 

Arun Bankar said, "Modi cannot do anything now. See I live in Nagpur. If he doesn't listen, I will go and blow up the RSS headquarter and Mohan Bhagwat. They are the one who will take a step back now, we won't stop." 

Bankar also told PTI that hundreds of farmers from various regions of Maharashtra, joined by students and people from various walks of life, on Sunday night left for Delhi from Nagpur to join protesting farmers at the borders of the national capital. He said that widows of those farmers who had died by suicide over farm debt and related issues from east Maharashtra and Marathwada regions, have also joined this "Chalo Delhi" vehicle march.

READ | Farmers adamant on repeal of farm laws, protest to continue post 8th round of talks

READ | Cong offers aid to kin of farmers who died during stir against agri laws

Farmers' protest

Meanwhile, the stalemate over the agrarian laws continued as the 8th round of talks between the farmers' unions and the Centre could not yield any outcome. The next round of talks will take place on January 8. The farmers have announced that they will hold a tractor parade -  'tractor Kisan Parade' - in Delhi on Republic Day if their demands are not met. From what started as a scheduled protest in the national capital on November 26 and 27, 2020, thousands of farmers are still protesting at the borders of Delhi against The Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020 and The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.

The Centre has so far agreed not to penalise farmers for stubble burning and to continue the present mechanism of giving subsided electricity for agricultural use. Maintaining that the talks were held in a cordial atmosphere, Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar appealed to the farmer leaders to send home the elderly, women and children given the chilly winter season. Meanwhile, the unions rejected the Centre's offer to form a committee to examine the agrarian laws. 

READ | Mamata Banerjee Backs Farmers' Stir; WB Assembly To Pass Resolution Against Agrarian Laws

READ | Farmers Block Traffic On Hoshiarpur-Chandigarh Road