Published 12:51 IST, February 21st 2021
Rakesh Tikait's 'burn crops' call goes wrong; BKU leader makes u-turn as UP farmer acts
BKU's Rakesh Tikait said his appeal to farmers to be ready to burn their crops should not be taken literally. This came after a farmer in UP destroyed his crops
Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rakesh Tikait said on Saturday that his appeal to farmers to be ready to burn their crops should not be taken literally. His statement came after a farmer in Uttar Pradesh's Bijnor destroyed almost half his wheat crop on Saturday morning. Tikait said the appeal was made for an extreme situation and asked the farmers not to take any drastic step in a huff.
“I had said to be ready to sacrifice one crop. That doesn’t mean you set the crop on fire. The movement hasn’t reached that stage yet. This will result in loss,” he told ANI.
In a video that went viral, Rohit Kumar, a young farmer from Kulchana village in Bijnor, could be heard saying that he had destroyed his standing wheat crop, as a mark of protest against the farm laws.
Kumar reportedly ran his tractor over six bighas of land that were covered by the wheat crop, after listening to Tikait’s speech, made during a panchayat in Hisar on Thursday. The farmer said there was no point in growing crops when their demands were not being heard.
Addressing a Kisan Mahapanchayat in Haryana's Hisar BKU's Tikait had challenged the BJP government, saying that farmers will 'burn crops if needed, but the protests won't stop'.
"Centre should not be under any misconception that farmers will go back for crop harvesting. If they insist, we will burn our crops. We will harvest as well as protest. If the Centre ruins the situation, we'll take our tractors to West Bengal as well," he said.
Farmers' protests continue
After completing a peaceful 'Chakka Jam' across India except in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, and Uttarakhand, farmers have intensified the protests with BKU leader Rakesh Tikait announcing a tour across Western India - covering Haryana Maharashtra and Rajasthan, holding Kisan Mahapanchayats in these places to encourage more farmers to join the protests.
Moreover, after the violence witnessed on Republic Day, Delhi police fortified the city borders by cementing nails near barricades, deploying additional troops, adding barbed wires, etc at Ghazipur (Delhi-Uttar Pradesh) and Tikri (Delhi-Haryana) borders, blocking access to the roads completely. MHA had snapped off the internet across all three border areas - Tikri, Singhu, and Ghazipur and later extended the ban to 1-2 days more. Farmers have reiterated 'No Ghar Wapsi till Law Wapsi', as the 3-month protests have caught several international celebrities' interest online.
Updated 12:51 IST, February 21st 2021