Amid the ongoing violent protests in various parts of the country against the recently announced Agnipath scheme for recruitment into the armed forces, now the farmers are going to join the protests. Former leader and spokesperson of Bharatiya Kisan Union Rakesh Tikait has declared that farmers will also join the protests against this scheme. Professional protestor Rakesh Tikait said that the farmers will start their protests on 30th June 2022.
Rakesh Tikait said, “We will go to the district collector’s office on June 30 to register our protest against the Agnipath scheme. There will be agitations. We will give our memorandum there. We all will be there and we will take our next decision there only. We will do it just the way the youth wishes it to be. We will do it in a peaceful manner. We completely back the youth on this issue.”
Rakesh Tikait further said, “Is there any job which is meant just for four years? Four years job is just a mirage. Can MPs and MLA pass a resolution that they will fight an election only once and won’t contend again after completing one term? Why don’t they bring any such rule? And there should be no pension for the MPs and MLAs too. Will that be fine? Should there term also be reduced to four years? Let’s keep it five years as it is now. But can a resolution be passed that a person can contend the election only once? And that no one will get a pension? If it happens so, then we will also give a thought that a political leader is also going to work for only four years. This will not be accepted in this country. The country is ruled by the Constitution of India and not by their whims.”
Rakesh Tikait added, “We will take a march from here. There are many other issues to be addressed. Sugarcane is one of them. Haryana farmers are due to get 100 crore rupees. Another issue is that of the transport subsidy in Uttarakhand. We are also covering water, health, and education.” Rakesh Tikait also threatened of registering a case against a recently published book. He alleged that according to that book the protesting farmers were supporting Khalistan.
On Tuesday (June 14), the Indian government, along with the chiefs of the three armed forces, launched the Agnipath scheme for the recruitment of youth in the armed forces. The new recruits under the scheme will henceforth be known as ‘Agniveer’.
Soon after, scores of armed forces aspirants took to the streets and destroyed public property under the pretext of peaceful protests and demonstrations. While demanding a rollback of the government scheme, they vandalized public property, burnt trains, and brought life to a standstill across the various Indian States.