On Wednesday, farmer leader Rakesh Tikait is scheduled to meet with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata. Tikait will talk about how to intensify the farmers’ current protests against the new central farm laws.
Banerjee’s party, the Trinamool Congress (TMC), won the West Bengal Assembly elections, and the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader will congratulate her. He campaigned for the TMC in Bengal before the elections.
He went to Nandigram, where Banerjee was pitted against her protege-turned-adversary Suvendu Adhikari, and urged residents to vote for the TMC instead of the BJP. Adhikari, the BJP’s Nandigram candidate, defeated Banerjee.
Tikait has been at the forefront of the opposition to the Centre’s farm laws, demanding that the three acts be repealed. Various farmer organisations have claimed that the Union government is paving the way for large corporations to come to India, putting small farmers and fishermen out of business.
Since November of last year, Tikait, along with hundreds of other protesters, has been camped near the national capital Delhi, protesting the farm laws. The increase in coronavirus disease (Covid-19) cases influenced the farmers’ protests, but now that the situation is improving, the protesters want to step up their efforts.
Banerjee has spoken out against the new farm laws and backed the farmers’ strike. Several members of her party travelled to the Delhi border to express solidarity with the farmers protesting.
The deadlock persists despite several rounds of talks between the Centre and farmer leaders last year.
Farmers have been protesting on the national capital’s various borders since November 26 in opposition to three recently enacted farm laws: the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020; the Farmers Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020; and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.
