Ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s first bilateral meeting with the U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday evening, farmer leader Rakesh Tikait appealed on social media for a focus during talks on the farm laws enacted by the Modi government.
“These black laws should be repealed to save us. Please focus on our concerns while meeting PM Modi,” tweeted Mr. Tikait, tagging @POTUS, the Twitter handle of the U.S. president.
Mr Tikait is the national spokesperson of Bhartiya Kisan Union and one of the foremost leaders of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha that is leading the agitation against the farm laws.
In his first tweet in English, Mr Tikait further said, “We, the farmers of India are protesting against the 3 farm laws brought by PM Modi’s govt. 700 farmers have died in the last 11 months protesting”.
The BKU had termed the UN Food Systems Summit a hogwash and described it as a threat to people’s food security.
Dharmendra Malik, media in-charge of BKU, said agriculture was an “international issue” and most laws were being made to protect the interests of the international MNCs. “That’s why we have appealed to the U.S. President to focus on the farm laws as well during his talks with the PM. We haven’t asked for his intervention,” he told The Hindu .