Centre has till 26 Nov to revoke farm laws else farmers will reach Delhi borders, warns Rakesh Tikait

Ghaziabad: Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rakesh Tikait on Monday said the Centre has time till November 26 to repeal the contentious farm laws, after which farmer protests around Delhi would be intensified. November 26 would mark one year of the ongoing farmers’ protests at Delhi’s border points of Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur. The protests are led by farmers collective Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM). Farmers’ union BKU, whose supporters are encamping at Ghazipur on the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border, is also a part of the SKM. The central government has time till November 26, after that, from November 27, farmers will reach the border at the movement sites around Delhi on tractors from villages and strengthen the tents at the movement site with solid fortifications, Tikait, the BKU national spokesperson, tweeted in Hindi. Hundreds of farmers are encamped at the three Delhi borders since November 2020 with a demand that the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, Farmers’ (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020 be rolled back and a new law made to guarantee MSP for crops. The Centre, which has held 11 rounds of formal dialogues with the farmers, has maintained that the new laws are pro-farmer, while protestors claim they would be left at the mercy of corporations because of the legislations.