Rakesh Tikait with BKU workers at Magh Mela in Prayagraj. PTI
Vibha Sharma
New Delhi, January 17
A day after BKU president Naresh Tikait purportedly announced support to the Samajwadi Party in the upcoming Assembly elections, senior BJP leader and Union Minister Sanjeev Balyan today visited his Sisauli village residence in Muzaffarnagar even as his brother Rakesh Tikait said the farmers’ union had not extended support to any political party.
“We did not extend any support, the message has been misread,” Rakesh Tikait said after a video of Naresh Tikait extending support to the SP-RLD alliance emerged. “If someone comes to your house, you do say ‘we are with you’. It does not mean that we will vote for them. We have decided that we (BKU) will not support anyone. Everyone (electorate) knows what they have to do,” Rakesh Tikait said.
Message misread
The video (of Naresh) has been misread. If someone comes to you, you do say ‘we are with you’ but it doesn’t mean we back them. —Rakesh Tikait, bku
Interestingly, Rakesh Tikait also said Yogi Adityanath “must win elections (from Gorakhpur) as we need a strong opposition in the state”.
In the very first mahapanchayat in Muzaffarnagar during the farm agitation last year, Naresh had said the “mistake made by Jats and khaps” in 2019 by not supporting late RLD leader Ajit Singh would be rectified in the 2022 Assembly elections.
In his last Lok Sabha elections from Muzaffarnagar, Ajit Singh had lost by a narrow margin to Balyan.
The BKU, especially Rakesh Tikait, has played a key role in the year-long agitation against the now-repealed farm laws. According to Balyan, who belongs to the same khap (Balyan) as Tikait brothers, it was a courtesy call. “Naresh Tikait had undergone a medical procedure a few days ago. We are like family… we keep meeting often… I came here to enquire about his health. He is recovering well. We had a good meeting,” the BJP’s Muzaffarnagar MP said.
A key part of the saffron strategy for poll-bound agrarian states Punjab, UP and Uttarakhand is to make amends with the politically significant and apparently still-upset Jat community by reaching out to their leaders.
Though BJP leaders claim that all khaps in western UP will support the party like they had in the 2014, 2017 and 2019 elections. “Jats are very happy with Yogi, they will not forget what happened in 2013 (Muzaffarnagar riots),” state BJP spokesperson Anila Singh said.
So far, both Samyukt Kisan Morcha and the BKU have refrained from promoting any political party. The SKM has also warned of launching ‘Mission UP’ (against the BJP) from February 1 if the Centre failed to fulfil its promises. “We will observe January 31 as ‘Vishwasghat Diwas’ (betrayal day) and hold nationwide protests,” the SKM has warned.
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