At the farmer panchayat in Mathura on Saturday, Rashtriya Lok Dal vice-president Jayant Chaudhary said laws were not set in stone and could be changed according to the wishes of the people.
Grandson of former prime minister and legendary farmer leader Chaudhary Charan Singh, Mr. Chaudhury was speaking at a massive rally called by the Bhartiya Kisan Union in Bajna to express solidarity with union leader Rakesh Tikait. Mr Rakesh Tikait has been protesting against the farm laws at the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border in Ghazipur for more than two months.
If the farm laws were so beneficial to farmers, why was the notification for Panchayat elections being delayed, the RLD leader asked. “I challenge Yogiji to issue notification for panchayat elections,” he said.
Addressing around 20,000 farmers at the Morki Inter College grounds in Bajna, Mr. Chaudhary said raising ones voice against a law doesn’t make a person anti-national.
“We have a right to protest against laws that are inadequate. Had that not been the case, the colonial era Land Acquisition Act would not have been changed.” The Act was changed in 2013 after Mr. Chaudhary introduced a Private Member’s bill in the Lok Sabha.
He appealed to youngsters to participate in protests and asked farmers to make a diary noting of those who are not with them in their ordeal.
“Such people need to be boycotted socially. We don’t have any personal issues with them. It is a battle of ideology with those who feel that today they are farmers, but tomorrow they would only vote as Hindus,” he said.
After the emotional outburst of Mr. Tikait on Thursday, the BKU has been holding rallies in different parts of western Uttar Pradesh where the RLD cadre have also also turned up in large numbers.
On Sunday, a rally of different khaps has been called in Baraut tehsil of Baghpat where farmers were forcibly removed by the police earlier this week. On February 1, another rally has been called in Kandhla village of Shamli district.
