BKU National President and so called Farmer Leader Naresh Tikait, brother of Rakesh Tikait, was caught in a sting operation carried by Zee News in which he was found saying that he can get sugarcane at a price lower than the minimum selling price (MSP) if paid in cash.
At about 7 minutes 24 seconds into the video, Naresh Tikait could be seen discussing on a proposal of jaggery factory and sugarcane procurement to the same. A reporter, posing as someone proposing a business deal, can be seen talking to Naresh Tikait about opening a jaggery factory and when the conversation led to sugarcane prices Tikait could be heard saying, ‘Very good, we have large quantities of Sugarcane here, and you will get these sugarcanes at the right price, even mill cannot take this much of sugarcanes, just the payment should be made in cash, you will get the sugarcanes at a much lower price, even lower than the rate asked at the mill, that is, Rs 325 per quintal, that is what, crushers’ (kolhoo) price may be Rs 225, Rs 250 or 275..’
This comes at a time when the so-called farmer leaders like Naresh Tikait himself and his brother Rakesh Tikait have been leading an agitation against the farm laws claiming they are anti-farmers. While ‘farmer protestors’ have been demanding legalising MSP (minimum support price), Tikait offers the same sugarcane at less than the price offered by other mills, if the money is paid in cash and not direct bank transfer. Huge amount of unaccounted cash transactions could lead to the problem of black money.
As per Zee News, their team met Tikait in Uttar Pradesh’s Muzaffarnagar district where a ‘mahapanchayat’ was held recently. The Tikaits hail from this district. Undercover Zee News team told Tikait about an agreement with a Singapore-based company to set up a jaggery factory in UP. At first Tikait didn’t show interest but when he got to know of foreign company investment, his interest piqued.
Amusingly, Tikait did not raise the points he and his brother often raise during the protests carried out by ‘farmer’ leaders. Example, he did not mention that the farmers do not give the land to industries, the way they have been claiming at various protests. Not only that, he even offered 12 bigha land to company at Rs 10,000 per bigha annually. During the recently held mahapanchayat in Muzaffarnagar, Tikait had ‘warned’ the farmers against giving their lands to industries as they may ‘grab’ their land. But when it came to his own land or deal with him, Naresh Tikait appeared more than willing to get into agreement with companies.