Bhartiya Kisan Union leader Rakesh Tikait has threatened to hang himself where the farmers are protesting, demanding the scrapping of the three farm laws, if the administration tries to evict the protesting farmers.
He addressed the protesting farmers at the Ghazipur border when the police arrived there to tell the protesting farmers to leave the camps they have set up. Tikait said that if the police open fire, the farmers are willing to face the bullets, but the agitation will continue. The farmers have been issued notices to vacate the roads, they have occupied, tonight.
Earlier in the day, there were reports that Tikait, against whom an FIR has been filed blaming him for the violence on January 26, would surrender to the police. However, later in the evening the UP police stated that Tikait is neither surrendering nor is he willing to be arrested.
Meanwhile, a small group of less than 100 people gathered at the Ghazipur border, raising slogans against the farmers and asking them to vacate the area and return to their villages. The protestors carried placards and banners condemning the farmers and the violence that erupted on January 26, during the farmers’ tractor rally in Delhi.