"Won't Return Home Unless Demands Met": Rakesh Tikait As Chakka Jam Ends
Farmers protesting the agriculture laws will not return home till their demands are met, and will not be pressured into holding talks with the centre, Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rakesh Tikait said Saturday afternoon, after the three-hour chakka jam (blocking) of state and national highways passed peacefully.
Addressing farmers gathered at Ghazipur on the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border, Mr Tikait also said the protest would extend till October 2 and that the centre had till that date to repeal the laws, failing which the farmer groups agitating against the laws would plan further protests.
"We won't return home unless our demands are met," Mr Tikait, whose tearful appeal after violence during the tractor rally on Republic Day has re-energised protesters, said.
"We have given time to the government till October 2 to repeal the laws. After this, we will do further planning. We won't hold discussions with the government under pressure," he added.
Before the start of today's protest Mr Tikait planted flowers at the Ghazipur protest site - at the same spot where the centre had earlier placed a strip of nails to stop the farmers.
"If they place nails, we will grow flowers. This relationship - between the centre and the farmers - will continue for a long time," he said.
Farmers across several parts of the country - except in UP, Uttarakhand and Delhi - held a chakka jam today, with highways across northern states, including the Eastern Peripheral Expressway around Delhi, blocked in a peaceful protest.
Roads were blocked at 33 places in 15 districts, including Sangrur, Bathinda and Barnala in Punjab. Visuals showed farmers and their tractors camped across highways in large numbers.
However, while the roads were blocked for regular travellers, videos also showed farmers quickly moving barricades aside and allowing ambulances and emergency vehicles past with minimum fuss.
Lakhs of farmers across India are determined to see the laws rolled back. Tens of thousands of them have been camped around the Delhi borders - which have been heavily fortified - since late November. These fortifications include barbed wire fences, concrete barriers and sharpened iron rods.
Source: ndtv
