Maneka kin V M Singh to launch Kisan Party today

“We have come in touch with at least 50 lakh household in the past two decades. If every household has four votes on an average, this means that we have the backing of two crore voters,” Singh explains his political calculations.

He, however, added that he “would not ask for the votes.” “We have helped them (the farmers) in their struggle. Now we would appeal to them to give us political power to change the scenario,” Singh told The Indian Express.

In the past, the leader has held several agitations, taken up sugarcane farmers’ issues, and filed petitions in the courts on behalf of the farmers.

Spelling out the reasons to form a political outfit, Singh said that agriculture, and therefore farmers’ issues, never forms the agenda of any political parties who, he alleged, “divide people on religious lines”.

“All issues concerning the farmers are hidden behind this Hindu-Muslim issue. We are appealing to farmers to shed this religious and caste agenda and come forward for their rights.”

The leader claimed that nearly five crore youths have left the farming background to seek menial jobs. “We want to bring them back, their respect and pave way so that they can return to farming. Rural sector needs strengthening and people will revert to agriculture.”

In the present scenario, Singh claims that no other party has touched farmers’ lives as has his organisation, Rashtriya Kisan Mazdoor Sangathan. “There is no comparison between us and BKU. They are nowhere. Rakesh Tikait lost miserably and Ajit Singh too has lost appeal. We want to tap all the space left vacant,” he said.

Related to Union minister Maneka Gandhi, Singh holds a considerable following in the western region and Rohilkhand areas in the state.