Rakesh Tikait is a farmers’ leader, politician, and the national spokesperson of Bharatiya Kisna Union (BKU). He is a son of late Mahendra Singh Tikait, one of the most influential farmers’ leaders in the history of independent India. In 2020, Rakesh Tikait came to the limelight after he participated in the farmers’ agitation against the three farms laws that were passed by the Parliament of India in September 2020.
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Wiki/Biography
Rakesh Tikait was born on Wednesday, 4 June 1969 (age 51 years; as of 2020) in Sisauli village, located in Muzaffarnagar district of Uttar Pradesh. His zodiac sign is Gemini. He went to D.A.V. Inter College, Sisauli, Muzaffarnagar and then completed high school from Kisan Inter College Lalu Kheri, Muzaffarnagar in 1986. He did secondary schooling from Board of High School and Intermediate Education Uttar Pradesh in 1988. Thereafter, he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Chaudhary Charan Singh University, Meerut (formerly Meerut University).
Rakesh Tikait in his village
Physical Appearance
Height (approx): 5′ 10″
Hair Color: Salt and Pepper
Eye Colour: Black
Family & Caste
Rakesh Tikait belongs to Jaat community.
Parents & Siblings
Rakesh Tikait is the younger son of the renowned farmer leader Mahendra Singh Tikait, who spent his entire life fighting for the interest of farmers. Mahendra was revered by the farmers as their second messiah after the fifth Prime Minister of India, Chaudhary Charan Singh.
Mahendra Singh Tikait during the 1988 farmers’ protest at the Boat Club lawn in New Delhi
Mahendra Singh Tikait passed away of bone cancer at the age of 76 on 15 May 2011. Rakesh Tikait’s mother, Baljori Devi, is also no more.
Rakesh Tikait’s parents, Mahendra Singh Tikait and Baljori Devi
Tikait’s elder brother, Naresh Singh Tikait, is the president of Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU). Naresh Tikait was given the post after the death of his father.
Naresh Singh Tikait
Apart from Naresh, Rakesh has four other siblings; two younger brothers, Surendra Tikait, (manager at a sugar mill in Meerut) and Narendra Tikait (farmer), and two sisters.
Narendra Tikait
Surendra Tikait
Wife & Children
Rakesh Tikait is married to Sunita Devi.
Rakesh Tikait’s wife, Sunita Devi
The couple has one son, Charan Singh Taikit, and two daughters, Seema and Jyoti.
Charan Singh Takait posing next to Mahendra Singh Tikait’s sculpture in Sisauli village
Career
As a Police Personnel
Rakesh Tikait has worked as a constable in the Delhi Police for a brief period. He resigned from the Delhi Police’s job during the 1992-93 farmers’ protest, which was led by his father, Mahendra Singh Tikait, to join the then ongoing movement.
In Politics
Rakesh Tikait has fought in two different elections. The first was in 2007 Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly election when Rakesh contested from Muzaffarnagar’s Khatauli assembly seat as an independent candidate. He could only garner 9,095 votes in that election. On 14 March 2014, Rakesh Tikait joined the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), a political party founded by Chaudhary Charan Singh’s son, Ajit Singh. His decision to join RLD came as a surprise to people, as he had previously been critical of RLD and had supported the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Talking about the reason behind his decision to join RLD, Tikait stated,
I had to choose between RLD and others. I found RLD better. It is the party that has taken up the issue of farmers.”
Ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha Election, RLD fielded Rakesh Tikait as its candidate from the Amroha Lok Sabha constituency. Rakesh had to face a defeat again, receiving 9,539 votes that were only 0.62% per cent of the total votes polled.
Farmer Leadership
Rakesh Tikait was elected as the national spokesperson of Bharatiya Kisan Union in 1997. Since then, he has been fighting for the rights of farmers.
Bajra protest
Reportedly, Rakesh Tikait once demanded the Rajasthan government to increase the price of millet procurement from the farmers. Later, he demonstrated a protest against the government after it refused to accept the demand. Consequently, the Rajasthan government increased the price of millet for farmers. Rakesh was also arrested and sent to Jaipur jail amid the protest.
The 2018 Kisan Kranti Yatra
In October 2018, Bharatiya Kisan Union gave the call for Kisan Kranti Yatra from Tikait Ghat in Haridwar to Delhi. This was done to compel the union government to fulfil a list of farmers’ demands comprising unconditional loan waiver for farmers, clearing of dues by sugar mills, higher prices for crops, free electricity for farms and a cut in diesel prices. The farmers also demanded implementation of Swaminathan Committee Report. As thousands of protestors reached the Delhi border, section 144 was imposed in East and Northeast Delhi. Over 3,000 security personnels from Delhi Police and UP Police were deployed in the area to stop farmers from entering the national capital. Police had to use water cannons and tear gas to disperse the crowd.
Kisan Kranti Yatra at Delhi border
Eventually, the union government ministers met Tikait and other farmer leaders and persuaded them to end the agitation. Tikait and other leaders agreed to the government’s assurance to set up a committee that would look at the demands of farmers, and thus the protest was called off.
2020-21 Indian Farmers’ Protest
In September 2020, the Government of India passed three farm bills in the Indian parliament. Soon after the acts were introduced, many farmer unions, including the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU), held protests against the laws and subsequently demanded to repeal them. Rakesh Tikait became a prominent face of the movement.
Rakesh Tikait delivering a speech at Singhu border during the farmers’ protest in Delhi
Rakesh Tikait was one of the farmers’ leaders who participated in 12 round of talks with the government for resolving the dispute.
Rakesh Tikait having a word with the Indian agriculture minister Narendra Tomar at Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi
After two months of peaceful sit-down protests, on 26 January 2021, farmers held a tractor march into Delhi from their protest sites at Singhu border, Tikri border, and Ghazipur border. Rakesh Tikait was one of the organisers of the program. As the rally started, a group of protesters deviated from the assigned route for the rally, broke through barricades, and entered central Delhi. The rally in central Delhi turned violent, leaving 394 security personnel injured and one agitator dead. Consequently, various government authorities laid pressure on farmers to vacate the protest sites. Heavy security forces were sent to various protest sites, including the Ghazipur border protest site where the agitation was being led by Bhartiya Kisan Union spokesperson Rakesh Tikait. The Ghaziabad administration gave an ultimatum to farmers to vacate the Ghazipur protest site and open the road blockade. Rakesh Tikait was asked to surrender before the police as he was named in one of the FIRs filed over the Republic day
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