Farm leaders slam BKU leader Rakesh Tikait's 'Burn crops' quip; term it 'inauspicious'

Slamming Bharat Kisan Union (BKU) spokesperson Rakesh Tikait's 'Burn crops' remark to farmers, former BKU  district chief Virendra Singh on Friday said 'it was against our culture to burn crops'. Claiming that Rakesh Tikait was not a real farmer, he said that his father - Mahendra Singh Tikait would have slapped Rakesh for such comments. Tikait has challenged the BJP, saying farmers will 'burn crops if needed, but the protests won't stop'.

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Farm Leaders slam Tikait's 'Burn crops' quip

"If Mahendra Singh Tikait would have been alive, he would have slapped Rakesh. It is not our culture to burn crops, it is inauspicious. He is not a farmer, " said Virendra Singh. Meanwhile, Kisan Gurukul Group chief Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal, who backs farm laws, asked "Why isn’t he talking of the solution but of the loss to farmers? Why isn’t Tikait talking of plans to stop the next generation from leaving India and do farming? Why are you speaking like Netas, like Aandolanjeevis, Rajnaitik Parijeevis?"

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Tikait: 'Will march on Kolkata'

On Thursday, Tikait proclaimed that farmers will now march on Kolkata. Alleging that farmers did not get MSP in Bengal, he said that farmers will harvest will their crops and then march - burning them if needed, but will not let the protests die. Addressing a Kisan Mahapanchayat in Haryana's Hisar, he said that Centre has not increased crop prices, but inflated fuel prices. 

"Centre should not be under any misconception that farmers will go back for crop harvesting. If they insisted, then we will burn our crops. We'll harvest as well as protest. Crops' prices are not increased, but fuel prices have gone up. If the Centre ruins the situation, we'll take our tractors to West Bengal as well," he said.

His brother - Naresh Tikait, on the other hand told farmers to boycott BJP leaders from Kisan Mahapanchayats. Addressing farmers in Muzaffarnagar, the senior Tikait brother and BKU chief said that anyone inviting BJP leaders to functions will have to send food for 100 people. His remark comes amid BJP chief J P Nadda and Home Minister Amit Shah meeting with party leaders from Haryana, Rajasthan and western Uttar Pradesh to tackle the growing dissent in the influential Jat community against Centre and the mahapanchayats being organised by khap panchayats (caste councils) in these states.

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Who are the Tikaits?

Tikait's father - Mahendra Singh Tikait was a renown farm leader who did a 24-day gherao of the Meerut Commissionerate for increasing the official sugarcane price in 1987 and later a week-long rally of half-a-million farmers at New Delhi’s Boat Club lawns in October 1988. The Tikait family is also close to the RLD chief Chaudhary Ajit Singh and other Jat leaders including Indian National Lok Dal’s Abhay Singh Chautala and Rashtriya Loktantrik Party’s Hanuman Beniwal - all of whom have thrown their support behind Tikait. Tikait has contested in the 2007 UP Assembly elections from the Khatauli seat with Congress support and the  2014 Lok Sabha polls on a Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) ticket from Amroha - failing to win either. He was also instrumental in helping Balyan win Muzaffarnagar in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, defeating RLD's Ajit Singh - a decision which Tikait has regretted.

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