Farmers prepared to protest till May 2024: BKU leader Tikait

Nagpur:  Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rakesh Tikait on Sunday said farmers are prepared to protest against the Centre’s new farm laws “till May 2024”, and termed the ongoing agitation by peasants at Delhi borders as an “ideological revolution”.
Addressing a press conference in Nagpur, Tikait said they want a legal guarantee on Minimum Support Price (MSP).
Farmers have been protesting near Delhi since November 26, 2020, demanding scrapping of the three new farm laws, which have been projected by the Centre as major reforms in the agriculture sector that will remove the middlemen and allow farmers to sell anywhere in the country.
However, the protesting farmers have expressed apprehension that the new laws would pave the way for eliminating the safety cushion of the MSP and do away with the mandi system, leaving them at the mercy of big corporates.
The Supreme Court last Tuesday stayed the implementation of the three new farm laws till further orders and decided to set up a four-member committee to resolve the impasse over them between the Centre and farmers’ unions protesting at Delhi borders.
Asked how long will farmers will sit in protest, Tikait said, “We are prepared to sit in protest till May 2024…our demand is that the three laws be taken back and the government provide a legal guarantee on the MSP.”