Will intensify protest if talks not held urgently, says Rakesh Tikait

Tikait said the Union government was conspiring to divide the farmers on communal and community lines to weaken their unity

Rakesh Tikait, the head of nearly one-year-old farmers’ protest against the three contentious central farm laws, on Monday warned of intensifying the stir across the country unless all pending demands were met by the Union government.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced plans to repeal the three laws, but there has been no word on the remaining demands, which are equally important, Tikait told Business Standard in Lucknow. “On the one hand, the Centre has announced to repeal farm laws, they are concurrently in the process of introducing 17 other laws, which have a direct bearing on farmers’ livelihood. The