New Delhi, (Samajweekly) The Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU), which has been at the forefront of the farmers’ agitation against the government, seems to have suffered a split on Tuesday with its Kisan faction’s national and regional post holders from Uttar Pradesh going ahead and meeting Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar to give its thumbs up to the contentious farm laws.
The leaders of the BKU who attended Tuesday’s meeting at Krishi Bhawan are from the Kisan faction, who not only announced to suspend their agitation but also told the Union minister that they support the farm laws and are with the government.
Ramgopal Dixit, Pavan Thakur Shivpratap Singh, Avdesh Pratap Singh, Ramkishen Dixit were some of the farmer leaders who met the minister and gave their suggestions on the laws as well.
They are also believed to have communicated to the minister that the laws were long overdue. They have promised to spread the word for the laws down to the district level.
“Many are spreading falsehoods about the laws. They (farmers who met Tomar on Tuesday) too had had their doubts. When I presented the facts, they said they are with the laws,” Tomar said after the meeting.
Interestingly, the BKU (Bhanu) faction had earlier approached the Supreme Court against the Centre over these farm laws. Meanwhile, the BKU Ekta Ugrahan had earlier created ripples by going a step further by waving photos of jailed activists, including those facing charges in Delhi riots.
The Delhi-NCR borders have been witnessing consistent protests from various farmers’ bodies over the last 20 days, demanding the three contentious farm laws be repealed, which the government has so far refused to do.
