Won't end protest against farm laws: BKU President Naresh Tikait

The government has thrown the matter in abeyance after saying that it is a “phone call away”, Tikait said

Farmers can sacrifice their lives but will not end the protest against the farm laws, said BKU national president Naresh Tikait while accusing the Centre of extending a stepmotherly treatment to them.

Addressing a monthly mahapanchayat at the Delhi’s Ghazipur border here, the BKU leader alleged that even after five months of protest by them, the government is not paying any heed to their demands.

The government has thrown the matter in abeyance after saying that it is a “phone call away”, said the leader.

The BJP-led Centre is working for capitalists, that is why it is extending a stepmotherly treatment to the protesting farmers, he said, adding that the government should fulfil their demand of scraping the three laws and give a written assurance on the MSP for crops.

Read | Farmers ready to talk if govt invites, no change in demands: Rakesh Tikait

He further said the “rulers” are busy in elections but they must know that farmers had voted for a lotus but the government is giving them thorns.

The Union government is planning to crush the farmers' protest but they should not take farmers lightly as it would be a blunder. Farmers can sacrifice their lives but they will not leave protesting against the laws, he said, adding that farmers of the country are united in the fight.

Thousands of farmers, mostly from Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh, have been camping at three border points of Delhi -- Singhu, Tikri (along Haryana), and Ghazipur -- demanding a repeal of the three farm laws enacted by the Centre in September last year.

The Centre says the new farm laws will free farmers from middlemen, giving them more options to sell their crops.

The protesting farmers, however, say the laws will weaken the minimum support price (MSP) system and leave them at the mercy of big corporates.