LUCKNOW: Months after being part of a raging farmers' protest against the new farm laws, the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) on Sunday was hit by rebellion when a group of senior functionaries detached itself from the union and formed a separate outfit -- BKU (non-political).
The decision was taken at a function organised in Lucknow on the death anniversary of farmer leader Chaudhary Mahendra Singh Tikait. The new group has been formed under the leadership of Rajesh Singh Chauhan, who was unanimously elected as the outfit's national president. He was the national vice-president of the parent BKU.
All other office-bearers of the new body are BKU old-timers, leaving out the two sons of BKU founder Mahendra Singh Tikait -- the present president Naresh Tikait and his brother and national spokesperson Rakesh Tikait, who took an active part in the farmers' protest.
Reacting to the development, Rakesh Tikait accused the ruling BJP of orchestrating the rebellion in the group. “A few members surrendered before the government earlier also,” Tikait said. He claimed that as many as 10 such separate organisations have been formed in UP alone.
The BKU (non-political) has named Rajesh Singh Malik as its chairman while Mangeram Tyagi is the vice-president. Anil Talan has been given the post of national general secretary and Dharmendra Malik is the national spokesperson. Bindu Kumar has been made the treasurer.
Chauhan alleged that BKU president Naresh Tikait and his brother and union spokesperson Rakesh Tikait were embroiled in politics, which was not the mandate of the union. "I have spent 33 years in the organization. When we came home after 13 months of agitation, our leader Rakesh Tikait appeared politically motivated. We talked to him. We said that we are apolitical people. We should not support any political organization. But our leaders were under the influence of some political parties," Chauhan said.
"Why has Rakesh Tikait been meeting political leaders in West Bengal and Telangana? We have nothing to do with politics," asserted state president of BKU (non-political), Harinaam Singh Verma, who is based in Lucknow. Rakesh Tikait, it is learnt, has been staying in Lucknow for the past couple of days to convince the rebel group, but could not succeed.
The farmer leaders who left the Tikait brothers' side are upset that the organization is now leaving the farmers' issues and moving towards politics. “Our job is to ensure respect for farmers. Aligning with political parties is not our job,” he said.
