Will stay put until farm laws repealed: BKU leader Rakesh Tikait

Bhartiya Kisan Union leader Rakesh Tikait on Thursday said the farmers' protests will continue till the contentious farm laws are not repealed by the Centre.

Only the repealing of the contentious laws would ensure the end of the protests, the influential farmer leader asserted.

"The movement will continue across the country until the three black laws are not repealed and a legal guarantee on the minimum support price of crops fixed," Tikait said in a Hindi tweet.

"Bill wapsi hi ghar wapsi hai (Withdrawal of the laws will ensure return of farmers to their homes)," he said in the same tweet.

The Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) national spokesperson said the movement is for safeguarding "jal, jungle and zameen" (water, forest and land).

The BKU is part of farmers collective the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), which is spearheading the campaign, particularly the demonstrations at Delhi's three border points of Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur since November 2020.

Farmers are demanding that the Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020; Farmers' (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020; and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020; be rolled back and a new law made to guarantee the minimum support price for crops.

The Centre, which has held 11 rounds of formal dialogue with farmers, has maintained that the new laws are pro-farmer, while the protesters claim they would be left at the mercy of corporations because of the laws.