There is hardly any person who is yet to hear the name of Bharatiya Kisan Union leader Rakesh Tikait. He is the son of Mahendra Singh Tikait, a popular farmer leader from the western Uttar Pradesh, who had held a massive farmers' rally in Delhi's Boat Club over 30 years ago. Rakesh Tikait's emotion-laden and teary-eyed speech on Thursday is being seen as one of the major turnaround moments in the farmers' protest.
Most of them already intimidated by the massive police presence began leaving the site but Tikait's speech prompted them to re-join the stir.
After the video of teary-eyed Tikait went viral, several fake accounts of the leader emerged on Twitter.
Considering the possibility of these accounts spreading fake news, Tikait has now requested Twitter to verify his and his union's account.
"Dear @TwitterIndia and @verified, it is an emergent request to verify these accounts @RakeshTikaitBKU, and official account of Bhartiya Kissan Union @officialBKU, voice of millions of farmers. Fake accounts can spread fake news which might cause damage to country. @Twitter (sic)," Tikait wrote on Twitter.
Meanwhile, the support for the farmers' protest swelled on Saturday, as more villagers poured in at a key protest site on the Delhi- Meerut highway in Ghazipur on the border with Uttar Pradesh.
The Bharatiya Kisan Union-led protest against the Centre's new farm laws here looked like it was going slim on Thursday but more protestors have joined the stir, following a mahapanchayat of farmers on Saturday in Muzaffarnagar, while supporters also joined in from Haryana and Rajasthan districts.
Thousands of farmers have been protesting at Delhi's borders with Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, demanding a rollback of 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.
The protesting farmers have expressed apprehension that these laws would pave the way for the dismantling of the minimum support price (MSP) system, leaving them at the "mercy" of big corporations.
However, the government has maintained that the new laws will bring better opportunities to farmers and introduce new technologies in agriculture.
(With inputs from PTI)
