BKU (Lok Shakti) Naresh Tikait calls off protest in Noida, brother Rakesh says will continue agitation

Ghazipur, Jan 28: In the aftermath of Republic Day violence in Delhi, security was heightened at Singhu, Bharatiya Kisan Union leader Naresh Tikait in Muzaffarnagar said that the dharna at the Ghazipur (border) will end today.

However, BKU leader Naresh Tikait's brother Rakesh says he will continue the sit-in protest at the Ghazipur border.

Meanwhile, the Uttar Pradesh government has ordered district administrations to clear all protest sites on the state's borders with Delhi currently being blocked by farmers. The state government has ordered all DMs and SSPs to ensure the end of all the farmers' agitations in the state, news agency ANI quoted officials as saying.

BKU (Lok Shakti) met Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar and said they ended their protest in the wake of the violence during farmers'' tractor rally on Republic Day.

"We condemned the incident that took place on Republic Day. Looking at the tense situation and in the interest of the nation, we told the minister that we are withdrawing our protest," BKU (Lok Shakti) national president Shouraj Singh told PTI after the meeting.

Separately, leaders of the BKU (Ekta) met Tomar and expressed concern over the farmers'' protest turning violent and stressed on the need to re-initiate the dialogue to end the impasse.

Hukamchandra Sharma of BKU (Ekta) said his organisation had carried out rallies in Aligarh and Gautam Buddha Nagar of Uttar Pradesh against the farm laws in the last few months, but was not part of the protest at Delhi borders with other unions.

"We told the minister that farmers'' leaders are generally peaceful people and the violence that took place was not right. We condemn it. The solution to this problem can be through dialogue and we are ready to be part of that solution," he said.

Thousands of farmers have been protesting at Delhi''s borders with Haryana and Uttar Pradesh demanding rollback of the Farmers'' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.

The protesting farmers have expressed apprehension that these laws would pave the way for the dismantling of the minimum support price system, leaving them at the "mercy" of big corporations.

However, the government has maintained that the new laws will bring farmers better opportunities and usher in new technologies in agriculture.