We care more for a policy on MSP than PM’s apology: Tikait

Addressing Kisan Mahapanchayat, he says stir won’t end till all demands are met

Rakesh Tikait, a leader of Bharatiya Kisan Union, in Lucknow, on November 22, 2021.

Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) spokesperson Rakesh Tikait said on Monday that the withdrawal of the contentious three farm laws was not enough, stressing that farmers had other issues that needed to be resolved, prime among them a law for guaranteed Minimum Support Price (MSP).

Speaking at a day-long Kisan Mahapanchayat at Lucknow’s Eco Garden park, where the farmers vowed to carry on their agitation, Mr. Tikait said the Prime Minister had spoken sweet words and his voice was even sweeter than honey when announcing the repeal of the law.

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However, he said, “I have doubts. We want a strong PM. We don’t want a weak PM. You can talk tough but also provide solutions to our problems.”

The BKU leader said a sangharsh-vishram (ceasefire) has been declared by the government and not farmers and that there are many issues before the peasants.

"The struggle will continue. The government should talk to farmers about the issues related to them or else we are not going to go away. Meetings will be held all over the country and we will tell the people about your work," he said.

He told the mahapanchayat that while the BJP government would go on selling the country, mandis and village land, it would keep people enmeshed in issues around “Hindu-Muslim,” “Hindu-Sikh” and “Jinnah.”

At the mahapanchayat organised by the Samyukt Kisan Morcha, Mr. Tikait appealed the government to hold discussions and resolve the remaining issues of farmers, including MSP law, seed bill and milk policy. He also said the farmers would not go back from the protest even after Parliament repeals the three farm laws in the upcoming session.

There was no need for setting up a new committee for a law on guaranteed MSP nor do the people have time for such a committee, said Mr. Tikait. He said that a report submitted by a group of Chief Ministers led by Mr. Modi in 2011 when he was head of Gujarat to then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had recommended a law for MSP. The report was still lying in the PMO, added Mr. Tikait.

Mr. Modi should give a clear answer to the people of the country if he will implement this report or not, said the BKU leader from western Uttar Pradesh, stressing that they cared more about a policy for MSP than his apology.

He also accused the government of lying that it had formed a committee on guaranteed MSP and said the government wanted to convert the entire country into a “private mandi.”

Mr. Tikait also demanded the arrest of Union Minister Ajay Mishra ‘Teni’, whose son Ashish Mishra is accused of murder in the Lakhimpur Kheri case. He warned that if the Minister inaugurates a sugar mill in the district, farmers would dump their sugar cane at the district magistrate’s office instead of taking it to the mill. “It doesn’t matter if we have to face losses,” Mr Tikait said.

Mr. Tikait also said that if “terrorists from Kashmir” can be lodged in Agra jail, then Mr. Mishra, “the murder of farmers — he is also a terrorist,” could also be put in Agra jail.