Don't treat farmers' stir like Shaheen Bagh protest, BKU Leader Tikait

BKU leader Rakesh Tikait on said the government should not treat the ongoing farmers' agitation like last year's protest in Delhi's Shaheen Bagh and asserted that the protesters will only go home after the new agricultural laws are repealed.

Rakesh Tikait said the farmers will follow all Covid-19 protocols and if need be, continue their agitation till 2023.

Shaheen Bagh had emerged as the epicentre of anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protests last year as hundreds took part in a months-long sit-in that began in December 2019. The Delhi Police cleared the protest site on March 24, 2020, a day before a nationwide lockdown was enforced in view of the coronavirus outbreak.

Talking to reporters, he said the Centre's farm laws will only spell losses for farmers.

"Farmers will not go back home till these laws are repealed. They talk of coronavirus but we have told the government that they should not treat this stir like Shaheen Bagh. This agitation will not end. We will follow the coronavirus guidelines and this agitation will continue till our demands are met," he said.