Centre Shouldn't Treat Farmers' Stir Like Shaheen Bagh Protest: Farm Leader

Rakesh Tikait said the protesting farmers will follow all COVID-19 protocols and if need be, continue their agitation till 2023.

BKU leader Rakesh Tikait on Wednesday said the government should not treat the ongoing farmers' agitation like last year's protest in Delhi's Shaheen Bagh and asserted that the protesters will only go home after the new agricultural laws are repealed. He said the protesting farmers will follow all COVID-19 protocols and if need be, continue their agitation till 2023. Shaheen Bagh had emerged as the epicentre of anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protests last year as hundreds took part in a months-long sit-in that began in December 2019. The Delhi Police cleared the protest site on March 24, 2020, a day before a nationwide lockdown was enforced in view of the coronavirus outbreak. Speaking to reporters, Mr Tikait said the Centre's farm laws will only spell losses for farmers.