Reopen Roads, No Farmer Will Go To Delhi 'Secretly', Says Tikait

Farmers protesting the three contentious farm laws will start holding a stir at Jantar Mantar from Thursday

Updated on: 22 July 2021 7:28 am

Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rakesh Tikait said in Ghaziabad on Wednesday that no farmer from Ghazipur border would go to Delhi "secretly" and urged authorities to reopen roads near protest sites for the ease of local residents.

Tikait made the remarks at Ghazipur border as the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), an umbrella body of protesting farm unions, got permission to hold a demonstration at the Jantar Mantar near Parliament from Thursday.

However, only a maximum of 200 protestors have been allowed till August 9 in the heart of Delhi with heavy security deployment in the area amid the ongoing Monsoon Session of Parliament.

Tikait said a total of 200 farmers under the SKM will daily go to the Jantar Mantar in a bus as has been allowed.

"The roads near protest sites that have been closed by authorities should be reopened to ease troubles of the local people. No farmer would go to Delhi secretly. We will stick to the permitted protest at Jantar Mantar," he said.

He was referring to a key route from Ghazipur border to Dabur chowk in Ghaziabad city that has been affected due to the protest that started at Delhi's borders in November 2020, according to a statement by BKU media in-charge Dharmendra Malik.

Addressing supporters from the stage, Tikait further said a "country-wide movement" will be held for the "farmers' revolution" over the withdrawal of the contentious three central farm laws.

Meanwhile, a batch of farmers from Karnataka led by their leader Chukki Nanjudawamy reached Ghazipur border on Wednesday to show solidarity with the ongoing movement.

Homage was also paid to two farmers who were martyred on July 21, 1980 in Karnataka during a farmers' agitation in the state, according to the statement.

Hundreds of farmers are encamped at Delhi's Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur borders since November 2020 with a demand that the Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, Farmers' (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020 be rolled back and a new law made to guarantee minimum support price (MSP) for crops.

However, the government, which has held 11 rounds of formal dialogue with the protestors, has maintained that the laws are pro-farmer.

(PTI inputs)