Uttar Pradesh Police stopping people from joining farmers stir at Delhi borders: Rakesh Tikait

GHAZIABAD: The Uttar Pradesh police is stopping people of the state from joining the farmers' protest against three central farm laws at Delhi's borders, Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) spokesperson Rakesh Tikait claimed on Thursday.

The farmer leader levelled the charge during a press conference at Ghazipur on the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border where he has been leading the protest with hundreds of supporters since November 2020.

He alleged that several people from Purvanchal area in eastern part of the state were either not getting public transport to reach Delhi or were being stopped by the local police.

"Trains are not running. If people are found wearing caps or carrying flags (of protesting farmers unions), they are stopped from proceeding to Delhi borders," Tikait claimed.

"In UP, people from Purvanchal cannot reach here because regular trains are not in service. If somebody somehow gets a reservation in a train but the information reaches the police, they stop the person from travelling," he alleged.

"Today, the situation is such that people cannot come to Delhi to participate in the farmers' movement," he claimed.

Tikait also announced at the press conference that the BKU would be intensifying its protest at district level in Uttar Pradesh from August 1 to highlight the problems being faced by the farming community.

"We shall be taking this cause directly to the people at district level now," Tikait said.

Farmers at three border points of Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur in Delhi are camping since November 2020 with a demand that the Centre withdraw the three new contentious farm laws and make a new one guaranteeing minimum support price (MSP) for crops.

The government, which has held multiple rounds of official meetings with the protestors, maintains that the laws are pro-farmer.

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