Tikait urges NRIs to protest during PM's New York event
(Sourced from PTI)
Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rakesh Tikait on Friday appealed to Indians living in the US to hold a protest during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's program in New York on Saturday in support of the 10-month-long farmers' agitation at Delhi's borders. He also urged US President Joe Biden to focus on concerns of the Indian farmers during his meeting with Modi.
Modi is on a three-day trip to the US to have the first in-person bilateral meeting with Biden. He will also attend the first-ever in-person Quad Leaders' Summit at the White House on Friday, along with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison. He is scheduled to address the 76th session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) on Saturday.
Tikait said in a video message, "We appeal to all Indians living in the US. India's prime minister will be there on September 25 in New York for a program." "All Indians in the US should place a farmers flag on their vehicles and raise banners of No Farmer No Food and register your protest in support of farmers," he added.
Tikait said, "It's been around 10 months since the farmers' protest started and we are all sitting here in Delhi." "Over 750 of our farmers have died during the movement and the Indian government is not ready to hold talks. We have sat through winters, summers, and rains in the stir," he added.
In his appeal to the US president, Tikait tweeted, "Dear @POTUS, we the Indian farmers are protesting against three farm laws brought by PM Modi's government. 700 farmers have died in the last 11 months protesting." "These black laws should be repealed to save us. Please focus on our concern while meeting PM Modi (sic)," his tweet further said.
Dear @POTUS, we the Indian Farmers are protesting against 3 farm laws brought by PM Modi's govt. 700 farmers have died in the last 11 months protesting. These black laws should be repealed to save us. Please focus on our concern while meeting PM Modi. #Biden_SpeakUp4Farmers
— Rakesh Tikait (@RakeshTikaitBKU) September 24, 2021
Hundreds of farmers are encamped on the three border sites of Delhi in Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur since November 2020 under the banner of Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), demanding that the three contentious farm laws be repealed and a legal guarantee provided to them on minimum support price of crops. Tikait has been leading his BKU at Ghazipur on the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border.
Meanwhile, SKM has issued a call for a "Bharat Bandh" or general strike on September 27. Notably, the Centre, which has held 11 rounds of formal dialogues with the farmers, has maintained that the new laws are pro-farmer.
