Farmers to stage dharnas in four states on Feb 21, says Rakesh Tikait

Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rakesh Tikait on Saturday announced that farmers will stage dharnas in Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab and Uttarakhand on February 21 to press their demands, including a legal guarantee of MSP.

Speaking to reporters after attending a panchayat in Sisauli here, Tikait said a resolution was passed during the meeting asking the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) to launch a tractor march to Delhi in the last week of February if the government does not accept farmers' demands.

The panchayat was held as farmers' 'Delhi Chalo' march, called by the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) and the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha, to press the government to accept their demands entered the fifth day on Saturday.

The farmers from Punjab began their march to Delhi on Tuesday but were stopped by security personnel at Shambhu and Khanauri points on Punjab's border with Haryana. The protesters have stayed put at the two border points since then.

Besides a legal guarantee of minimum support price (MSP) for crops, the farmers are demanding the implementation of the Swaminathan Commission's recommendations, pension for farmers and farm labourers, farm debt waiver, no hike in electricity tariff, withdrawal of police cases and "justice" for the victims of the 2021 Lakhimpur Kheri violence, reinstatement of the Land Acquisition Act, 2013, and compensation to the families of the farmers who died during a previous agitation in 2020-21.

Tikait said farmers will stage dharnas in four states -- Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab and Uttarakhand -- on February 21 to press their demands.

The panchayat also passed a resolution asking the SKM to launch a tractor march to Delhi in the last week of February if the government fails to accept their demands, he said.

Union ministers Arjun Munda, Piyush Goyal and Nityanand Rai and farmer leaders will meet on Sunday for the fourth round of talks. The two sides met earlier on February 8, 12 and 15 but those talks remained inconclusive.

The panchayat also condemned the police action against farmers in Haryana and Punjab.

Haryana Police on Friday fired tear gas shells to disperse protesting farmers when they moved towards the barricades at the Shambhu border near Ambala.

Later in the day, Haryana Police released a series of video clips of several farmers purportedly pelting stones and attempting to provoke the security personnel at the Shambhu border.

Meanwhile, farmer leaders spearheading the 'Delhi Chalo' call claimed that the Haryana security personnel used "force" against protesters by hurling tear gas shells and firing rubber bullets at them, leaving many injured.

There were clashes between the farmers and Haryana Police personnel on the first two days of the protest as well.

Tikait said the members of his family are ready to make any sacrifice for the cause of farmers.

He said more than 30 members of the BKU from Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab and Uttarakhand participated in the panchayat.