ROORKEE/MATHURA: Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) functionaries, who addressed thousands at the two mahapanchayats in Mathura and Roorkee on Wednesday, asked each farmer family to send one member to the protest sites in and around Delhi. Giving out this call, the functionaries at the mahapanchayat in Mathura claimed that about 5,000 people from Mathura alone are likely to reach the Ghazipur border in the next two days.
Echoing the same sentiment and terming the laws brought by the Union government “death warrants” for farmers of the country, BKU chief Naresh Tikait said in Roorkee that people will not sit at home till the laws are repealed.
“Till the farm laws are not repealed, we will not withdraw from our protest. We are going among farmers day after day asking them to join the agitation. We will continue to protest in a peaceful manner. And even if the government resorts to firing, we will respond to them without violence,” Tikait told the gathering at Gud Mandi, about 9km from Roorkee city.
About 300km away in Mathura, his son and BKU’s youth wing president Guarav Tikait addressed an even bigger crowd and said, “Bill wapasi nahi to ghar vapasi nahi (No one will go back home till the farm laws are repealed).”
Meanwhile, BKU national spokesperson Rakesh Tikait, who got a rousing welcome at the mahapanchayat held in Kandela village in Haryana’s Jind district on Wednesday, vowed to stand by the farmers till their demand for repeal of the three agriculture laws is accepted.
“Farmers are demanding only repealing of the three laws but if they are not heard, they may even ask for the throne of Delhi. The government should think of taking farmers’ demand seriously,” said Tikait.
Representatives of more than 50 khaps from Haryana attended the gathering. The mahapanchayat passed six resolutions on repeal of the three laws, making a law to ensure minimum support price for all agricultural produce, waiving of farmer loans, implementation of the Swaminathan Commission recommendations and withdrawal of criminal cases registered against farmers in Delhi on January 26.
(With inputs from Sat Singh & Vijender Kumar in Jind)