"We are stranded on the road on this farmers' day": Rakesh Tikait
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"We came here, driving our tractors, to get ahead with our lives selling our farm produce without loss. There is no point of returning without the repeal of the three laws and other anti-farmer legislations. We are stranded today on farmers' day on the streets because the government, despite knowing it, is pretending to be oblivious," told Rakesh Tikait to Madhyamam who is one of the prominent leaders of the farmers' protests on the borders of Ghazipur.
Tikait is the youngest son of Mahendra Singh Tikait who strengthened Bharatiya Kisan Union in North India.
"Even in the letter that the government gave us, there is no mention of satisfying our demands which is why we turned it down. The government on knowing the demands of the farmers should have taken positive decisions. Without that, there is no point in calling for negotiations" Tikait pointed out
We are selling produce that we sold for 3000 rupees at 1500 now. The cost of diesel and electricity has more than doubled. The government must explain why our expenses are doubling while we make half of what we used to. You cannot defeat this protest by paying people to come here and hold rallies claiming to be farmers," he added
"There are other legislations and decisions that the government must reconsider other than the three controversial farm laws. They say you cannot drive tractors for over ten years. They are telling to replace old generators and plumbing sets with new ones. This is to demotivate farming in rural areas. If we are to go ahead with agriculture, we have to sit-in on the roads," Tikait added.