Newsmaker: BKU rebel Rajesh Chauhan takes away veterans, Rakesh Tikait sees BJP hand

Chauhan forms BKU (Apolitical), accuses Tikait brothers of politicising the outfit by speaking in favour of SP-RLD

Chauhan, who is from the village of Sithura in Fatehpur district, joined the BKU in 1990 and rose to become its national vice president.

Since Mahendra Singh Tikait formed the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) on October 17, 1986, the farmers’ organisation has survived almost a dozen splits. On Sunday, the outfit, which led the 13-month agitation against three farm laws passed by the Centre, underwent another split as a section led by Rajesh Singh Chauhan formed the BKU (Apolitical) in Lucknow in protest against the organisation’s pro-Opposition stance during the recent Uttar Pradesh elections.

Chauhan, who is from the village of Sithura in Fatehpur district, joined the BKU in 1990 and rose to become its national vice president. His younger brother Bhupendra Singh is a Samajwadi Party (SP) leader in Fatehpur and his sister-in-law Beena was elected the head of a block with the SP’s backing in 2017. Hitting out at BKU leaders Naresh and Rakesh Tikait, Chauhan said, “Baba Tikait (Mahendra Singh) clearly stated that the BKU would neither join hands with political parties nor issue any statement supporting any political outfit during elections. The Tikait brothers, Naresh and Rakesh, were treading the path of their father till the farmer’s movement at the Delhi border but things changed gradually when the UP Assembly elections were announced. Naresh Tikait openly issued a statement in favour of the SP-RLD (Rashtriya Lok Dal) alliance though later he retracted it.”

The leader also accused the Tikait brothers of taking decisions without consulting any senior leader of the outfit. “We were not ready to see the downfall of the outfit being caused by the whims of Naresh and Rakesh. Hence, we were forced to part ways and formed the real BKU whose only job is to raise issues concerning farmers and fight for their welfare,” Chauhan added.

Several leaders who joined the BKU (Apolitical) were associated with the farmers’ outfit for almost three decades and were key members of the organisation. Though Rakesh Tikait, the BKU’s spokesperson, tried to pacify Chauhan for two days before the split, the rebel leader did not relent. The BKU on Sunday dismissed him and other veterans such as Anil Talan, Harinam Singh Verma, and Dharmendra Mallik who all are office-bearers in the new outfit.

Rakesh Tikait on Sunday alleged that the BKU (Apolitical) was formed under the pressure of the BJP government and claimed that his organisation would not be weakened by it. On Monday, he seemed more equanimous. “I do agree that most of the leaders who formed the new outfit on Sunday had been the backbone of the BKU in the last two to three decades, leaders such as Verma in Lucknow, Chauhan in Fatehpur, Talan in Aligarh and Mangeram Tyagi in Bulandshahr. The body undergoes excruciating pain when a finger is chopped off but life goes on and so will be the fate of the real BKU despite Sunday’s split,” he added.

At a programme commemorating the birth anniversary of Mahendra Singh Tikait on Sunday, RLD president Jayant Chaudhary said, “When Chaudhary Charan Singh and Mahendra Singh Tikait used to raise and fight to the finish for issues concerning farmers, morality used to underline their crusade for the cause of those out on the fields. But now that fight has assumed political and religious connotations, which is highly detrimental to unity in the society. The reins are now in the hands of younger lots, which is not a good sign.”

BJP leader Raju Ahlawat who was the BKU’s Muzaffarnagar unit chief for 10 years, before joining the ruling party this January, said, “The BKU has now become a political party due to the Tikait brothers who are no longer real leaders of the farmers and operate at the behest of the political party that backs and financially supports them. BKU leaders except the Tikait duo were feeling suffocated and thus formed a separate outfit to raise the real issues being faced by the farmers.”