Farmers gained’t return, will burn crops if pressured to return to harvesting: Rakesh Tikait

Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) chief Rakesh Tikait Thursday reiterated that the protesting farmers won’t return to harvesting till their calls for are met and warned the federal government that they may burn their crops if they’re pressured to return.
Asserting that the farmers are adamant on the elimination of all three agricultural legal guidelines fully, Tikait, addressing a protest rally in Haryana’s Kharak Punia, stated that the Centre shouldn’t be beneath any false impression that the farmers will return to crop harvesting and that the protests would finish in two months.
“If they insist, then we will burn our crops,” Tikait stated, and added, “We will harvest as well as protest”.
He additional stated that crop costs haven’t elevated at the same time as gasoline costs have gone up. “If the Centre ruins the situation, we will take our tractors to West Bengal as well. Farmers are not getting MSP there also,” he was quoted as saying by ANI.

Thousands of protesting farmers on Thursday sat on railway tracks at many locations in Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh as a part of the ‘rail roko’ protest towards the Centre’s new agriculture legal guidelines, with officers stopping trains at stations as a precautionary measure.
The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), an umbrella physique of farmer unions, which is spearheading the protest, final week had introduced the nationwide rail blockade to press for its demand to repeal the legislations and had stated that the agitation will probably be from 12 pm to 4 pm.
The farmers have been protesting since late November at Delhi’s borders with Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, demanding a rollback of 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 Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.
The protesting farmers have expressed apprehension that these legal guidelines would pave the way in which for the dismantling of the minimal assist worth (MSP) system, leaving them on the “mercy” of massive firms.
However, the federal government has maintained that the brand new legal guidelines will deliver higher alternatives to farmers and introduce new applied sciences in agriculture.

Earlier final week, Tikait had asserted that the agitating farmers weren’t aiming at any change in energy on the Centre however an answer to their issues. Tikait stated that the agitation will probably be lengthy drawn and proceed until authorities begins talks with farmer leaders.
He additionally asserted that the unity of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), an umbrella physique of the farmer unions protesting towards the contentious farm legal guidelines, was intact and warned the federal government to not be in any phantasm.
– With PTI inputs