After the Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) split on Sunday, Rakesh Tikait, the farmer union's spokesperson, stated that seven rebel leaders had been dismissed. Tikait was a significant figure in the year-long anti-agri laws protests, and his connections with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao generated concern about BKU's political clout. He charged Rajesh Chauhan, Anil Talan, Mangeram Tyagi, Digamber Singh, Dharmendra Malik, Rajbir Singh, and Harinaam Verma of undermining farmers' interests on Twitter.
"Some persons have declared the foundation of a so-called separate organisation from the Bhartiya Kisan Union in order to attack the farmers' interests. Such forces who are hostile to farmers' interests have been expelled from BKU immediately "Tikait stressed. He also expressed faith in the farmers' solidarity. He and his brother Naresh Tikait, the BKU president, did not openly campaign for any side during the recently finished UP elections, despite their initial willingness to back the opposition.
BKU Has Created a New Faction
The farm union's vice-president Rajesh Chauhan declared the foundation of a different entity on the death anniversary of BKU founding president Mahendra Singh Tikait. Disagreeing with the Tikait brothers' decision to support political parties in elections, he accused them of not listening to workers or paying heed to agricultural issues. This faction's name, BKU (Arajnaitik), is significant since Arajnaitik means "apolitical." Rakesh Tikait, on the other side, accused the Centre of attempting to split farmers.
Rajesh Chauhan remarked during a press conference, "We talked to Rakesh Tikait about our worries. We put forth a lot of effort to form BKU, but he only wanted us to support one party. That is unacceptable to us. Our motivation is to investigate farmer issues. We will not serve any party."
Later, in an exclusive interview with Republic TV, the BKU (Arajnaitik) chief stated, "It was my sincere desire to both Rakesh and Naresh Tikait that this remain politically neutral. Our Andolan (farmers' protest) lasted 13 months and was absolutely apolitical, but once the demonstrations were done, they (Rakesh and Naresh Tikait) began to engage in politics ".
He continued, "I had reminded them that these were not our Mahatma Tikait's values (Mahendra Singh Tikait). He told us that BKU must remain apolitical at all times, and that we would not endorse any person or political party ".
