Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) national spokesperson Rakesh Tikait said on Saturday that his appeal to farmers to be ready to sacrifice their standing crop should not be taken literally. It has come after a farmer in Bijnor destroyed almost half his wheat crop on Saturday morning. Mr Tikait said the appeal was made for an extreme situation. “The movement hasn’t reached that stage yet. Farmers should not take any drastic step in a huff,” he urged.
“I had said to be ready to sacrifice one crop. That doesn’t mean you set the crop on fire. This will result in loss,” he reiterated.
In a video that went viral, Rohit Kumar, a young farmer from Kulchana villge in Bijnor, could be heard saying that he had destroyed his standing wheat crop to register his protest against the farm laws. Speaking over phone, Mr. Kumar said that he had run his tractor over six bighas of 13 bighas that were covered by the wheat crop after listening to Mr Tikait’s speech, made during a panchayat in Hisar on Thursday. “I have left enough for the family consumption. There is no point in growing crops for sale when our demands are not being heard,” Mr. Kumar said.
Mr. Tikait said he believed in the system. “I returned from the airport when I was told that the permission for a panchayat in Maharasthra has been denied because of an increase in COVID-19 cases and a lockdown has been imposed in the area,” he said.
He said farmers would continue with their protest during the summer. “Arrangements are being made so that our crops don’t suffer. In fact, a proposal has come to conduct a marriage ceremony at the Ghazipur border,” he said.
