Lay seige to Bengaluru with tractors to protest farm laws: Rakesh Tikait to Shivamogga farmers
Shivamogga, Mar 21: Farmer leader Rakesh Tikait has exhorted farmers of Karnataka to lay siege to Bengaluru with their tractors in protest against the three contentious farm laws passed by the Centre and convert the city to the focal point of agitation, like in Delhi.
"....you have to turn Bengaluru into Delhi. You will have to lay siege to the city from all directions," he told a farmers' mahapanchayat here late on Saturday.
Only tractors should be used, like in Delhi, where over 25,000 have blocked entry points to the city, he said.
Thousands of farmers, mostly from Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh, have been camping at the Delhi border points -- Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur -- for over three months, demanding the repeal of farm laws and a legal guarantee on the Minimum Support Price (MSP) for their crops.
Tikait claimed that lakhs of farmers and their families have laid siege to Delhi by agitating at the border points and said the stir would continue until the three laws are repealed.
"Unless the three laws are repealed, unless there is a law related to the MSP, you need to continue this agitation in Karnataka as well," Tikait said.
He said though the stir was to repeal the three farm bills, there were other 'controversial' bills in the pipeline, aimed at grabbing farmers' lands, forcing them to work as daily wagers in factories
"Besides these three laws, other bills pertaining to milk, electricity, seed and pesticides will also be introduced," he said.
Tikait alleged that privatisation of banks would result in farmers who have availed of loans through Kisan Credit Cards, with land as collateral,being asked to surrender them.
"If the farmers do not have money to repay the loans, then they will take away your land," he alleged.
The government's target is to ensure that in the next 20 years, all the land goes to the banks and companies and the farmers become labourers, he charged.
The farmer leader, son of illustrious farmer leader Mahendra Singh Tikait, has taken the mantle of farmers' agitation along with his brother Naresh Tikait around Delhi and has been conducting public meetings in various parts of the country against the farm bills.
Make 'Delhi' in Bengaluru, siege the city from all sides: Rakesh Tikait to Shivamogga farmers pic.twitter.com/pjwsJ89YO5
— Economic Times (@EconomicTimes) March 21, 2021
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Everyone should have faith in Shubman, he will win games at World T20: Abhishek
Dharamsala (PTI): Having played alongside Shubman Gill since the age of 12, Abhishek Sharma knows that it is just a matter of time before his currently off-colour best buddy starts winning T20I matches for India, including games in the upcoming T20 World Cup next year.
Gill's selection in the Indian T20I playing eleven has been questioned after a settled Sanju Samson was benched. The vice-captain in the format has managed only 291 runs in 15 innings at a strike-rate of 137.3.
He struck only four sixes in those games and on Sunday against South Africa in the third T20I here, Gill scored a painstaking run-a-ball 28, which didn't matter much since Abhishek (35 off 18 balls) had given the team a rousing start in a chase of a paltry target of 118.
"I'll tell you one thing straight away, that trust me, these two guys are going to win matches in World Cup (in February-March) and in this series as well," Abhishek replied when asked about Gill and skipper Suryakumar Yadav's poor run of form in the ongoing five-match series which India leads 2-1 right now.
When it came to Gill, his closest friend of more than a decade, Abhishek was predictably protective.
"Because I've been playing with them since so long, especially with Shubman, so I know which match he can win, which conditions, irrespective of the team, whoever it is," he said.
"So I have a lot of faith in him from the beginning, and I hope everyone will see him very soon and everyone will have faith in him," added the world's No.1 T20 batter.
Once Abhishek got out at a team score of 60, India needed more than 10 overs to score the remaining runs with both Gill and Surya not able to bat freely.
"There was a bit of help for the fast bowlers, and as I was batting, I knew that if I gave a good start here, the match could get over in the Powerplay, and that's what happened.
"...that was the plan for the rest of the batters, that they would just knock out or finish the match, so it was a very simple plan after that," Abhishek explained the rationale behind taking it easy after a blistering start.
Abhishek said he had to keep in mind that in cold December evenings in this part of the country, the pacers would get movement both in the air and off the surface.
"Conditions of course, I mean, as a batter you have to keep those things in mind that the ball is swinging a bit or it's seaming a bit, so I tried to play a few shots which is suitable for those wickets and pitches, so that's the plan always."
