Former Karnataka CM HD Kumaraswamy urges government to withdraw cases against BKU leader Rakesh Tikait

Bengaluru, Mar 25: Terming cases registered against Bharatiya Kisan Union leader Rakesh Tikait on charges of delivering provocative speeches as an 'attempt to silence' the voice of farmers, JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy on Thursday demanded that it be withdrawn. Cases have been registered against Tikait in Shivamogga and Haveri.

"The police have booked a case against Bharatiya Kisan Union leader Rakesh Tikait in Shivamogga and Haveri on the charges of delivering provocative speeches. This is nothing but an attempt to silence the voice of farmers," Kumaraswamy said.

In a series of tweets, the former CM sought to know if cases had to really be booked against those indulging in provocative speeches, how many should have been booked against BJP leaders by now?.

Tikait, who is at the forefront of the protests against the anti-farm laws in Delhi, was in Shivamogga on March 20 and addressed the first Raitha Mahapanchayat of south India, during which he had called upon farmers of Karnataka to intensify the protest against the anti-farm laws and block entries into Bengaluru with tractors.

Police had registered a suo motu case on Tuesday against him under section 153 of the IPC. The Haveri police too have registered a suo motu case against Tikait for allegedly making a provocative speech during the Raitha Mahapanchayat held there on Sunday.

Noting that there is no provocative element in Tikaits statement- "Farmers need not come to Delhi for the struggle against new farm laws. You can launch a struggle here itself like the one in Delhi, Kumaraswamy said, in fact it is "faulty grasping" if someone feels that his statement is provocative.

"It is well within the rights granted by the Constitution to take up struggles and to give a call for struggle. He (Tikait) did not call for assaulting or killing. The case against Tikait should be withdrawn at the earliest," he added.