Indian farmers say protest will spread to all of India with 4m tractors' rallying

The farmers’ agitation will keep moving forward and even spread to the rest of the nation, Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rakesh Tikait said Tuesday. The farmers’ leader made the statement while addressing a ‘Kisan Mahapanchayat’ (grand session) in Pehowa in Haryana’s Kurukshetra district.

In an exclusive conversation, Rakesh Tikait boasted to Indian media that a rally of 4 million and not four lakh tractors will be taken out.

Referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s criticism of agitation-savvy individuals, Rakesh Tikait said, “He [PM] has never been part of any agitation in his life. In fact, he did the job of breaking the nation. What would he know about Andolanjivis [people who hijack protests for personal gains]?”

“Bhagat Singh, even Lal Krishna Advani were part of agitations,” Tikait added.

Rakesh Tikait went on to say that the ongoing farmers’ agitation will continue till October 2 of this year. “But the protest will not end even after that. Farmers will keep returning to the protest sites in shifts,” the BKU leader told the media.

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Asked why he has been addressing Mahapanchayats in Haryana, farmer leader Rakesh Tikait asked, “Is holding a Mahapanchayat in Haryana prohibited?”

Earlier on Sunday, Rakesh Tikait delivered a fiery speech at a ‘Kisan Mahapanchayat’ in Rajasthan’s Bhawani district. Tikait also addressed a large gathering of farmers in Haryana’s Jind district earlier this month.

Along with the leaders of as many as 40 farmers’ outfits, Rakesh Tikait has been part of a delegation of farmer leaders that participated in as many as 11 rounds of consultations with the central government. Tikait has been at the forefront of the farmers’ protest at Delhi’s Ghazipur border.