Mumbai: Well he has emerged as the face of the farmers’ protests against the three contentious laws passed by the government. His tears and his fiery speeches have touched all. Yes we are talking about BKU leader Rakesh Tikait. He was once a constable with the Delhi Police. However, Rakesh Tikait then decided to get into various business ventures and turned out to be very successful indeed. The average monthly income of farmers, the Bharatiya Kisan Union is representing, is as low as 6400 rupees. However, Tikait reportedly owns wealth worth of Rs 80 crore.
This is according to a report published in the DNA. It says Tikait has assets across four states. They are Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Maharashtra and Delhi. Besides, he has properties spread across 13 cities, including Muzaffarnagar, Lalitpur, Jhansi, Lakhimpur Kheri, Bijnor, Badaun, Delhi, Noida, Ghaziabad, Dehradun, Roorkee, Haridwar, and Mumbai.
The report also states that Tikait owns a range of businesses like petrol pumps, brick kilns, showrooms. It goes on to say that the BKU leader has two daughters – Seema and Jyoti. The younger of the two lives in Melbourne. Jyoti had also reportedly organised a rally in support of the protesting farmers in Melbourne, February 8.
The protest against the newly introduced farming laws have been going on at the borders of Delhi. Mainly the farmers of Punjab, Haryana and Western Uttar Pradesh are participating in the protest. It has been going on for more than two months now. Many political parties including the Congress, has thrown its weight behind the protesting farmers.
The chiefs of Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party, Akhilesh Yadav and Mayawati have demanded withdrawal of the controversial agri laws.