Rakesh Tikait said by following this method, protesting farmers will be able to attend to their agricultural and household duties and also participate in the protest
GHAZIABAD: The number of farmers protesting at UP Gate has been dwindling ever since violence erupted on the streets of Delhi on Republic Day. While a number of important farmer unions have called off the agitation and are headed back home with their supporters, a faction wants to be here for the long run.
BKU leader Rakesh Tikait has proposed a formula to ensure that the protesters’ numbers at UP Gate remain consistent. He said the protest is going to be long-drawn and to maintain a constant presence of protesters at the site, he has proposed a formula – one tractor, one village to the farmers. He said 15 people from a village will come at a time to the protest site in a tractor trolley and stay for 10 days. After this, another set will replace them.
GHAZIABAD: Hundreds of Bharatiya Kisan Union members stayed put on the Delhi-Meerut Expressway early on Friday, notwithstanding the Ghaziabad administration s ultimatum to vacate the UP Gate protest site.
A confrontation was building up at the UP Gate in Ghazipur even as frequent power cuts were witnessed in the evening at the protest site, where BKU members, led by Rakesh Tikait, are staying put since November 28.
In a post-midnight review of situation, Ghaziabad District Magistrate Ajay Shankar Pandey and Senior Superintendent of Police Kalanidhi Naithani visited the protest site even as hundreds of security personnel in anti-riot gears were deployed since Thursday.
Farmers at the Ghazipur border make way for an ambulance
GHAZIABAD: Farmers protesting at UP Gate have said they will organise a tractor rally to Palwal on Thursday, a day before the next round of talks are scheduled. Bharatiya Kisan Union leader Rakesh Tikait said the agitation will intensify in the next few days.
Dharmendra Malik, a BKU office-bearer, said: “It has been decided that on January 7, the farmers will take out a tractor rally from UP Gate to Palwal and more than 500 tractors will be there. The rally has been planned a day before the next round of talks on Friday. The government, which has not been taking us seriously, will get to know of our strength during our tractor rally.”