Will soon visit Gujarat to mobilise support for farmers' protest: Tikait

Farmer leader Rakesh Tikait on Sunday said he will soon be visiting Gujarat to drum up support for the movement against the Centres contentious farm laws. The Bharatiya Kisan Union BKU national spokesperson also claimed that farmers will eventually not be able to take any part of their farm produce because the new laws will favour only the corporations.

Farmer leader Rakesh Tikait on Sunday said he will soon be visiting Gujarat to drum up support for the movement against the Centre's contentious farm laws. He said this as he met visiting groups of supporters from Gujarat and Maharashtra at Ghazipur on the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border where he has been camping along with his supporters since November. The Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) national spokesperson also claimed that farmers will eventually not be able to take any part of their farm produce because the new laws will favour only the corporations. Citing an example, he said, "The milk produced in villages cost around Rs 20-22 per litre but when it reaches cities through corporations, it costs consumers anywhere above Rs 50 per litre."

"Now the corporations are building large storage houses and warehouses to store food grains and once there will be a shortage in the market, they will sell it at rates of their choice," Tikait said, according to a statement issued by the BKU. "We will not let such a situation arise. We are only concerned about this and will not let corporate control crops in the country," he said.

Tikait was presented with a "charkha" (spinning wheel) by the visiting group from Gandhidham in Gujarat. "Gandhiji had used charkha to drive the British out of India. Now, we will use the charkha to drive out corporates. We will soon go to Gujarat and mobilise support for the farmers' protest for the repeal of the new laws," he added. Meanwhile, over 20 women from the Rohtak district of Haryana also joined the stir at Ghazipur and assured their support to the movement.

Thousands of farmers are camping at Delhi border points of Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur with a demand that the Centre repeal the three new farm laws and make a new one guaranteeing minimum support price (MSP) for crops, fearing the legislation would hurt their livelihood. The government, which has held 11 rounds of formal talks with the protesting farmer's unions, has maintained the laws are pro-farmer.