'Those Kids Jailed For No Reason, Take Us To Prison As Well': Rakesh Tikait On Wrestlers' Detention

Farmers' leader Rakesh Tikait claimed that the protesting wrestlers were imprisoned for no reason and that the farmers who supported them should also be imprisoned.

Rakesh Tikait, leader of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU), and farmers attempt to cross a police barricade at the Ghazipur border to join wrestlers protesting WFI chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.

Source : PTI

Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rakesh Tikait said on Sunday that the protesting wrestlers were detained for no reason, and that the farmers who supported them should be imprisoned as well. Earlier in the day, scores of farmers led by the BKU leader were stopped by Delhi Police at the Ghazipur border on Sunday as they attempted to enter the national capital to participate in a protest called by agitating wrestlers outside the new Parliament building.

Tikait can be heard saying in a video posted by the news agency PTI, "Those kids (protesting wrestlers) have been jailed for no reason; take us to jail as well."

VIDEO | “Those kids (protesting wrestlers) have been jailed for no reason; take us to jail as well,” says farmer leader Rakesh Tikait. pic.twitter.com/7aHdVD6nqG

— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) May 28, 2023

The wrestlers who have been on a sit-in at the Jantar Mantar demanding the arrest of Wrestling Federation of India president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh over allegations of sexually harassing female grapplers have not been granted permission to protest.

"Everyone else (farmers) has been stopped (by police). For the time being, we will sit here and decide what to do next," Tikait, who led the anti-farm law protests, said after being stopped by police at the heavily fortified Ghazipur border, PTI reported. 

Security personnel and farmers who attempted to break through barricades to enter Delhi amid heavy police presence got into heated arguments.

The Ghazipur border was closed as a precautionary measure to prevent the farmers from entering the national capital.

According to a report by PTI, there were traffic jams on routes to Anand Vihar and other nearby areas, and the officer stated that necessary traffic diversions had been implemented. Following the protesting wrestlers' call for a ''Mahila Samman Mahapanchayat,'' elaborate security arrangements with multiple layers of barricades and pickets were put in place at the Delhi borders to ensure there is no disruption on the day of the New Parliament building's inaugural ceremony. There was also heavy police presence on every route, particularly those leading to the New Delhi area.

The Delhi Police filed two FIRs, one under the POCSO Act, against WFI president and BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, who has denied all charges.