After the Supreme Court’s observation on indefinite blockage of roads during the ongoing farmers’ agitation against three contentious farm laws, the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) removed a tent from the service lane that connects Delhi to Uttar Pradesh.
BKU national spokesperson Rakesh Tikait reiterated that they never blocked the road and it was the Delhi Police that had been preventing them from moving inside Delhi by putting a seven-layered barricade.
“We have been waiting at the border for 11 months. It seems the SC feels that we have been blocking the road so we have cleared this road. Delhi Police should allow us to move into Delhi,” Mr Tikait told reporters.
When asked where do the farmers want to proceed, he said, “to the place where these laws had been made.”
Yudhvir Singh, general secretary, BKU, said only one tent that housed the media centre for some time had been removed. “There is a misconception that we have concluded the protest at the Ghazipur border. The tent has been removed to dispel the notion that we are blocking the route. The protest is very much on,” he said.
On the postponement of the Lucknow mahapanchayat scheduled for October 26, Mr Singh said the mahpanchayat has been pushed by a month because of unseasonal rains. “Farmers have suffered loses because of the rains and we don’t want to push them into the protest at this time,” he said.
‘Centre-State tussle’
However, senior sources in BKU said they could sense a tussle between the Central and State government on the farmers’ issue and they wanted to “wait and watch” its outcome.
“The way Yogi Adityanath handled the Lakhimpur violence showed his positive intent before the polls. He sent his best officers to the ground and allowed access to Rakeshji to Lakhimpur. It saved the situation from going out of hand and the immediate demands of farmers were met. In contrast, the central government is not dismissing the minister who is accused in the case. It appears that the Centre wants to weaken the Yogi government as part of BJP’s internal tussle,” said a senior BKU leader on condition of anonymity. “In fact, all State governments, including that of Haryana are against the farm laws but the Centre has made it an ego issue,” he added.
