New Delhi, January 30

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Saturday hit out at the BJP over FIRs filed against Congress MP Shashi Tharoor and six journalists, alleging that the ruling party has “torn to shreds” the “dignity of democracy” by this action.

The Congress general secretary said the trend of the BJP government threatening public representatives and journalists by filing FIRs is “very dangerous”.

“Respecting democracy is not the government’s prerogative but it is its responsibility. The atmosphere of fear is like poison for democracy,” Priyanka Gandhi said in a tweet in Hindi.

“The BJP government has torn to shreds the dignity of democracy by FIRs against senior journalists and public representatives,” she said.

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor and six journalists have been booked by the Noida Police for sedition, among other charges, over the violence during the farmers’ tractor rally in Delhi, officials said on Thursday.

The journalists named in the FIR are Mrinal Pande, Rajdeep Sardesai, Vinod Jose, Zafar Agha, Paresh Nath and Anant Nath. An unidentified person has also been named in the FIR.

Madhya Pradesh police have also filed a First Information Report (FIR) against Tharoor and the six journalists over their ‘misleading’ tweets on the violence during the farmers’ tractor rally in Delhi.

New Delhi, January 30

His tears exercised an emotive pull even he may not have envisaged, helping turn the tide for a movement that seemed to have lost both sheen and momentum after the violence on Republic Day. It was but a moment in time and Rakesh Tikait was the man in it.

He was once a Delhi Police constable, tried his hand at electoral politics and been a farmer leader for years. But Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Tikait has broken out of the confines of western Uttar Pradesh to find a space in the national spotlight as arguably the most powerful farm leader of the day.

The two-month farmer movement against the Centre’s three farm laws was till now dominated by protesters from the fields of Punjab and Haryana who set up camp at the Singhu and Tikri border points into the city. Now, the focus has shifted to Ghazipur on the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border where farmers are gathering in thousands to boost the fight that seemed to have been weakening only two days ago.

A day after the Republic Day violence in Delhi, when a section of farmers taking part in the tractor parade broke through barriers, clashed with police and stormed the Red Fort for a few hours, the farmer game it seemed to be over. Morale plummeted and many farmers returned home.

On Wednesday night, the atmosphere was tense at Ghazipur. The Ghaziabad administration issued an “ultimatum” to the protesters occupying a stretch of the Delhi-Meerut expressway to vacate as the January 26 clashes painted a not-so-peaceful picture of the peasant community.

And then came the Tikait moment. As security presence at the site escalated and fears grew that the protesters would be forcibly evicted, an emotional Tikait broke down while talking to reporters.

“The protest won’t be called off. Farmers are being met with injustice,” he said and even threatened to end his life for the cause.

The 51-year-old’s BKU leader’s call for continuing the protest against the government struck a deep emotional chord. Videos of his emotional outburst were circulated across multiple platforms.

It led to his brother Naresh Tikait calling a ‘mahapanchayat’ at their home town in Muzaffarnagar on Friday where tens of thousands of farmers gathered to back the movement.

The crowd at Ghazipur border that had reduced to 500 on Thursday night grew manifold over the next 12 hours, running into well over 5,000 in next 24 hours. The farmer movement was not just revived but further energised.

Tikait, who has been part of a delegation talking with the Centre over the ongoing protest, is also one of the accused in the January 26 violence in Delhi that saw one farmer dying when his tractor overturned and hundreds of people, including police personnel, being injured.

He has denied the allegations of conspiracy and demanded a judicial probe into the violence, blaming infiltrators in the tractors’ parade of the unrest.  To be named as an accused by the Delhi Police is perhaps strange for Tikait, who served as a head constable in the force but quit in 1992-93 when he had to deal with a farmers’ agitation led by his father, the legendary Mahendra Singh Tikait.

Born on June 4, 1969, in Sisauli village of Muzaffarnagar district in western Uttar Pradesh, Rakesh Tikait joined BKU after quitting the Delhi Police and gained prominence as a farm leader after the death of his father to cancer in May 2011.

Mahendra Tikait, who was hailed as “messiah” of farmers, had inherited the ‘Chaudhary’ title of the regional Baliyan khap (a social and administrative system in parts of north India) at the age of eight from his father. Going by the tradition of the khap, the title passed on to his elder son and Rakesh Tikait’s elder brother Naresh.

But Rakesh Tikait, a BA graduate from the Meerut University, was designated national spokesperson of the BKU. He has two younger brothers—Surendra, who works as a manager in a sugar mill, and Narendra, engaged in agriculture.

He also tried his hand at elections but lost both times.

It’s an affluent family.

Ahead of the 2014 polls, Tikait had declared assets worth Rs 4.25 crore, including Rs 10 lakh cash, and liabilities of Rs 10.95 lakh with land worth over Rs 3 crore forming the biggest chunk of his assets.

The vocal farmer leader had to spend nights behind the bars for defying public servant’s orders during several of the protests that he has led in the past decade.

Having dug in his heels along with his supporters at the Ghazipur border amid a deadlock with the Centre over the new farm laws, Tikait on Saturday was once again teary-eyed.

But this time overwhelmed by emotion as villagers, including children, reached the protest site carrying water, homemade food and buttermilk, after he announced he would drink water only when farmers will bring it since the local administration had barred water tankers at the protest site.

New Delhi, January 30

The Delhi Police has so far registered 38 cases and arrested 84 people in connection with the violence during a tractor parade by farmers here on Republic Day, officials said on Saturday.

The tractor march by farmers protesting against the three recent agriculture laws had turned violent, leading to chaotic scenes on the streets of the national capital on Republic Day.

Thousands of protesting farmers had clashed with the police during the parade. Many of them, driving tractors, reached the Red Fort and entered the monument.

They also hoisted flags on the domes and placed a flagstaff at the ramparts of the national monument, where the national flag is unfurled by the prime minister on Independence Day.

Police had asked nine farmer leaders to join the investigation in the case on Friday, but no one turned up. — PTI

Vibha Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 30

Baghpat, Sonepat and Rohtak—they may be in different states (Uttar Pradesh and Haryana) but members of the ‘Jat’ community of the region share strong socio-cultural ties/bonding called “roti-beti ka rishta”.

What the events of the past few days in the ongoing farmers’ agitation, especially those revolving around BKU leader Rakesh Tikait, have done is strengthened those bonds.

Perhaps, this is the second time the BJP leadership miscalculated the agitation, the first being underestimating farmers and their agitation.

A day after the highly-successful ‘mahapanchayat’at Muzzaffarnagar, which decided that the Ghazipur agitation would continue, a similar event is now being planned at Baghpat, the bastion of ‘Jat’ leaders Ajit Singh and son Jayant Chowdhury.

Baghpat may be in Uttar Pradesh, and is an hour’s drive from Sonepat, but the implications of another ‘mahapanchayat’ are expected to be felt not just in Yogi Adityanath’s Uttar Pradesh but also in Manohar Lal Khattar’s Haryana—incidentally both non-Jat chief ministers.

BKU spokesperson Rakesh Tikait’s tears have not impacted only Ghazipur but also Singhu in Haryana.

A day after Muzaffarnagar ‘mahapanchayat’, BKU president Naresh Tikat has said that a similar event had been planned in Baghpat on January 31.

Naresh Tikait on Friday said it was “their mistake” to support the BJP candidate, Union Minister Sanjiv Balyan, against RLD chief Ajit Singh in the last Lok Sabha elections.

After the death of BKU founder Mahendra Singh Tikait, the organisation lost much of its support base, say observers.

In fact, Rakesh Tikait lost when he contested the elections.

But the visuals of Rakesh Tikait, a Jat, becoming sentimental and breaking down, were enough to stir emotions among his community who “collectively felt humiliated”. Perhaps the BJP has inadvertently increased his relevance, bringing together the community, and giving purpose and strength to Tikait brothers and their organisations.

“Jats stand by each other in ‘dukh’. It is a typical characteristic of the community which the BJP misunderstood and turned what could have been a possible resolution into a prestige issue for them. The basic feeling now is that ‘BJP ne dukhi kar diya kyoki wo ‘Jat’ hai’ (BJP created problems for him because Rakesh Tikait is a ‘Jat’)”, explains Prof Sudhir Panwar.

After Naresh Tikait calling off the agitation two days back, there were visible signs of  thinning of protests at the Ghazipur protest site.

Sources say even though an “agreement” was reached with the Tikait brothers that the protest site would be vacated, the increase in security forces and presence of Loni MLA Nand Kishore Gujjar and his supporters “vitiated the atmosphere”.

Asserting that he would not surrender and would also call more people to join the protest if needed, Rakesh Tikait broke down saying “he would rather commit suicide than leave and end the protest against the farm laws”.

Following that, Naresh Tikait quickly called an emergency meeting and appealed to supporters to reach Ghazipur and scheduled the Muzzafarnagar ‘mahapanchayat’.

Coming to the first miscalculation, many observers say the Narendra Modi government not just “underestimated” the agitation but also the determination and resolve of the Punjab farmers who managed to reach and hold on at the Delhi borders despite so many hurdles.

Quite clearly, Punjab BJP leaders did not give the correct feedback of the situation in the state to the Centre. Whether a similar situation is now being repeated in Uttar Pradesh remains to be seen.

Aditi Tandon

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 30

The Congress on Saturday warned the government against wrongfully implicating the agitating farmer leaders, saying the government had made one mistake of pushing the farm laws through Parliament but should avoid the second mistake of targeting genuine protesting leaders.

Speaking at the all-party meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi today, Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha and Congress veteran Ghulam Nabi Azad demanded a discussion on farmer issues on priority when the Budget Session resumes after recess.

He said: “The government can stand on prestige with anyone but should not stand on prestige with our farmers, who produce food for the nation.”

Azad said the Opposition had warned the Centre against pushing the laws without sending them to a standing or a select committee of Parliament.

Condemning the Republic Day violence, Azad said the incidents involved lumpen elements who should be punished.

“We condemn the Republic Day incidents. Never have we seen such a thing on January 26 or August 15. This would have never happened had the government needed the Opposition and allowed Parliamentary scrutiny of farm laws. That way, the government could have ensured that the concerns of farmers are addressed,” said Azad, warning the government of the agitation swelling up if the government continued to implicate farmer leaders.

“When I was a chief minister, I saw that no one objected if a terrorist was killed but if an innocent person was killed in the name of terrorism, there was always a furore,” said Azad, asking the government to pause and rethink the rules of engagement with the farmers.

Azad also demanded a discussion on economy and the the declining GDP and jobs noting, “Given the hike in petrol and diesel prices, I can say it is easier to buy a car these days but difficult to top it up with fuel.”

Azad also asked the Centre to bring a bill urgently to grant full statehood to Jammu and Kashmir, saying a sensitive border state could not be left to officers and bureaucrats.

“Now, the district development council and panchayat elections have been concluded in Jammu and Kashmir. Now there’s no excuse to not restore JK’s statehood,” said the former JK chief minister.

Parveen Arora

Tribune News Service

Sonepat, January 29

After an emotional appeal by BKU leader Rakesh Tikait from the Ghazipur border, a large of farmers were on their way to join the protest at the Singhu border on Friday.

Farmers from various districts of Haryana and Punjab arrived in large numbers to strengthen the stir. They boosted the morale of protesters by chanting ‘Bharat Mata ki jai’, ‘Kisan mazdoor ekta zindabad’ and ‘Haryana Punjab bhaichara zindabad’.

Anmol Rana of Sonepat said the stir got renewed energy after the Ghazipur incident. He criticised snapping of electricity and water supply at Ghazipur and said these acts would not stop farmers.

Kulbhushan of Sonepat said the farmers’ protest would reach new heights in the days to come. “The Red Fort incident was unfortunate, but the stir would continue,” he said.

Farmers from Punjab were hopeful that the numbers would increase in the days to come. “We are happy that black sheep have been exposed. More people will join the stir as a large number of Punjab farmers are on the way,” said Karnail Singh of Fatehgarh Sahib.

Ranjeet Singh Bajwa of Hoshiarpur said scores of farmers who had left after taking part in the tractor parade were coming back. “Tikait’s appeal has given new energy to the protest,” he said.

Meanwhile, volunteers have raised vigil at the dharna site after the Friday’s clash.

Tribune News Service
New Delhi, January 29

Almost a year after the Supreme Court granted permanent commission to woman Army officers, many of them are still litigating to get their due.

On Friday, a Bench headed by Justice DY Chandrachud asked the Additional Solicitor General Sanjay Jain to sort out the issue with the authorities concerned and posted the matter for further hearing after two weeks.

“They are your own officers. They have served the Navy and the Army. Please try to sort it out with the authorities. Why push them into the litigation cycle again? There in their years of retirement now…These women (officers) have served the nation. Why should they be made to go to the AFT (Armed Forces tribunal) again? Sit down with them and sort it out,” a Bench headed by Justice DY Chandrachud told Additional Solicitor General Sanjay Jain.

Maintaining that the 2020 judgements have to be implemented in letter and spirit, Jain assured the Bench those genuine issues that were resolvable within the framework of the rules and will be resolved.

In two verdicts in 2020, the top court had held that serving women Short Service Commission Officers in Indian Navy and Army were entitled to Permanent Commission on a  par with their male counterparts.

There are issues of arrears of salary, gratuity and pension that needed to be resolved.

Earlier this month, 11 women army officers had moved the Supreme Court seeking compliance of its directions to the Centre for grant of permanent commission, promotions and consequential benefits to them “in an inclusive, fair, just and reasonable manner”.

Lieutenant Colonel Ashu Yadav and 10 other women Army officers alleged that the directions were not being complied with in “letter and spirit”.

The procedures for grant of permanent commission were “vitiated with arbitrariness, unfairness and unreasonableness”, they alleged in the petition.

GS Paul

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, January 29

More than 100 Punjab farmers who went to Delhi to take part in the Republic Day rally are ‘missing’, as per the Punjab Human Rights Organisation. In collaboration with Khalra Mission, the PHRO today announced free legal aid to the farmers booked by the Delhi Police for the Red Fort incident.

“It appears the police deliberately led the farmers to the Red Fort. A ruckus was created when the Nishan Sahib was hoisted there. This cannot be an offence. The Tricolour was not touched. Most protesters were illegally deta-ined on the spot. Since then, their whereabouts are not known,” activist Sarabjit Singh Verka said.

Hakam Singh, a lawyer with the Punjab and Haryana High Court, said at least between 80-90 youths from Punjab had not returned to their camps at Singhu and Tikri. “A group of lawyers is trying to trace them. We are in touch with the police, farm unions and hospitals,” he said.

Lawyers under the banner of Panthic Talmel Sangathan too offered legal aid to the farmers. “We are scrutinising the FIRs. Most farmers were booked under the Damage to Public Property Act, Epidemic Diseases Act and Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act,” an advocate said.

Akal Takht officiating Jathedar Giani Harpreet Singh said: “Nishan Sahib is the symbol of the Sikh identity. Hoisting the flag does not constitute an offence.”

A report from Moga said 12 farmers of Tatarie Wala village in Moga district were among those missing. The village panchayat identified them as: Amritpal Singh, Gurpreet Singh, Daljinder Singh, Jagdeep Singh, Jagdish Singh, Navdeep Singh, Balvir Singh, Bhag Singh, Harjinder Singh, Ranjit Singh, Ramandeep Singh and Jaswant Singh. The panchayat appealed to the Punjab CM to secure their release.