'Don't Vote For BJP, Next Target Of Farmers Is Parliament': Tikait's Warning From Nandigram

Urging people of Bengal to save the state from Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Tikait also asked them not to vote for the saffron party as the "Central government has robbed the country."

Rakesh Tikait during Samyukt Kisan Morchas Mahapanchayat. (File Photo/PTI)

Kolkata: Warning of a January 26-like tractor parade in the national capital once again, farmer leader Rakesh Tikait on Saturday said that the next target will be to sell crops to the Parliament. While speaking at a mahapanchayat (public meeting) in West Bengal’s Nandigram, Tikait the day the Samyukta Kisan Morcha decides, a new mandi will be opened at the Parliament.

“The day Samyukta Morcha decides, a new mandi will be opened at Parliament. Tractors will again enter Delhi. We have 3.5 lakh tractors and 25 lakhs farmers. The next target will be to sell crops at the Parliament,” Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rakesh Tikait said while speaking to reporters.

Urging people of Bengal to save the state from Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Tikait also asked them not to vote for the saffron party as the "Central government has robbed the country."

Earlier in the day, Tikait held a mahapanchayat in Kolkata and urged people to vote against the BJP in the forthcoming West Bengal Assembly Elections. Tikait is spearheading months-long farmers protest against the three contentious agri-laws passed by the Centre last year.

“We are going to Nandigram to tell people that crops are not being purchased at MSP. We will appeal to them not to vote for BJP as they have robbed the entire country,” Tikait was quoted as saying by news agency ANI after the meeting in Kolkata.

Alleging that the BJP-led government at the Centre is intent on breaking the backbone of the farmers and their movement, Tikait said it is "anti-people".

Clarifying that the Krishak Mahapanchayat in Bengal is not meant to pledge support to any particular non-BJP party in the state, the BKU chief said "I am not here to seek votes for a particular party. We are here to issue an emphatic appeal to start the battle against BJP on behalf of the farmers in Bengal."

The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), an umbrella body of over 40 farmers' unions, had on Friday urged ploughmen and other people of West Bengal not to vote for BJP arguing that electoral defeat will force the BJP-led government at the Centre to repeal the three farm laws.