Farmers' Protest Will Spread Across India; Rally Of 40 Lakh Tractors Soon, Says Rakesh Tikait

Bharatiya Kisan Union spokesperson Rakesh Tikait said that protests against the contentious farm laws will spread across India.

Tikait was addressing a 'Kisan Mahapanchayat' in Pehowa in Haryana¡¯s Kurukshetra district.

Criticises PM Modi's "andolan-jeevi" remark

Tikait criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Andolan-jivi' (professional protestors) remarks and asked if people like great freedom fighter Bhagat Singh will also be put in that category.

PTI

Addressing a well-attended 'Kisan Mahapanchayat' at Gumthala Garhu village in Pehowa in this district, a third within a week in Haryana, he said the government should not be under the wrong impression that the protesting farmers will return to their homes without their demands being accepted.

'Was Bhagat Singh who sacrificed his life for this nation a parjivi?'

Without naming the Prime Minister or using his ¡®Andolan-jivi' phrase, Tikait said, "In Parliament, they are saying these are parjivis (parasites). Was Bhagat Singh who sacrificed his life for this nation a parjivi? What about 150 farmers who died during this agitation? Were they parjivis too? Had they gone to Delhi to agitate and die?"

Speaking in Rajya Sabha on Monday, the prime minister had hit out at those behind the farmers' protests, saying a new "breed" of agitators called "Andolan jivi" has emerged in the country who cannot live without an agitation and the nation should guard against them.

Agitation against the Centre's farm laws is nationwide

Tikait also alleged that attempts were being made to divide the protesting farmers on the lines of region and other considerations, and appealed them to reject any such design.

AP

"They will try to divide you on Punjab-Haryana lines, as Sikh and non-Sikh, Hindus and Muslims..," he alleged. "The farmers' agitation against the Centre's farm laws is nationwide and not limited to Punjab or Haryana."

"We will win this fight," he declared.

Projecting the 40 farmers unions spearheading the agitation as fully united, he said, "We have said we will neither change 'Panch' (leader) nor 'Manch' (stage)."

"We have always said that if the government has to talk there are 40 representatives they can talk to them, whatever these unions decide will be acceptable to us," he said.

Tikait said the protesting farmers will divide their time between home, fields and the agitation. Every farmer's family, he said, is required to participate in the stir by sending at least one person at the Delhi border protest sites while other members would continue to work in their fields.