The announcement by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday that the three contentious farm laws would be withdrawn has apparently not had an impact on Rakesh Tikait, national spokesperson of the Bharatiya Kisan Union. Tikait said the protests would continue until Parliament repealed the laws. He also demanded the government take up other demands of farmers.
Following Modi's address to the nation, Tikait tweeted, “The agitation will not be withdrawn immediately, we will wait for the day when agricultural laws will be repealed in Parliament. Along with MSP [minimum support price], the government should also discuss other issues of farmers.”
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The Samyukt Kisan Morcha, the umbrella group spearheading the protests, expressed a similar sentiment. ANI reported the SKM had said it "welcomes PM Narendra Modi's decision to repeal all three anti-farmer laws. We will wait for the announcement to take effect through due parliamentary procedures. If this happens, it will be a historic victory of the one year long farmers' struggle in India".
Over the past year, Tikait had emerged as one of the leading faces of the farmers' protests, making the agitation a crusade against the BJP governments at the Central and state levels.
Farmers unions had been preparing for a mahapanchayat to be held in Lucknow on November 22. On Thursday, Tikait had warned that if the Centre or state tried to disrupt the event, the farmers would not allow planes carrying Prime Minister Narendra Modi or Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to land in Uttar Pradesh.
The farmers unions had also announced a march to Parliament on November 29.
