Rakesh Tikait threatens to launch stir over farmers' issues in Bihar

PATNA: Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rakesh Tikait has threatened to launch a farmers' agitation in Bihar if the state government failed to accept the demands of the peasants.
The agitation would be multi-pronged aimed at the centre as well as the state government, said Tikait while addressing the 'Kisan Maha Panchayat' organised at Chand block in Kaimur district on Saturday.
Attacking the Nitish Kumar-led-government, the farmer leader said their main demand was appropriate compensation to the farmers whose lands have been acquired for Bharatmala Expressway (a centrally funded project which aims to build a network of roads, highways and expressways in India). "The farmers of around 50 villages from five blocks have been affected by the proposed land acquisition for the Varanasi-Kolkata Expressway," Tikait said and further demanded restoration of mandis or bazar samitis to facilitate farmers.
These demands were further pressed by former agriculture minister Sudhakar Singh, a bitter critic of Nitish Kumar, who also addressed the farmers came from almost all the blocks of Kaimur at two-day long Maha Panchayat.
Tikait said all the governments headed by BJP or other parties were working against the interest of the farming community and trying to reduce farmers into labourers through their anti-farmer policies. He said farmers have to be united to raise voice against such policies and fight for their rights.
The BKU leader who had spearheaded the year-long agitation in Delhi last year, announced to hold a big farmer panchayat in the national capital on March 3 to press for various demands.
Before addressing the rally, Tikait drove a decorated tractor from Bahora Gram to Chand with Sudhakar, covering 17-km.
The farmer leader will address various farmer rallies in Bihar during his four-day visit. He will address the farmers in Bhabhua on February 26, Chausa in Buxar on February 27 and Quila Maidan in Buxar on February 28.