The farmer Rakesh Tikait continue to protest though more farmer unions withdraw

DELHI, INDIA - 2021/01/26: Protesters remove police barricades from the road during the demonstration. Farmers protesting against agricultural reforms breached barricades and clashed with police in the capital on the India's 72nd Republic Day. The police fired tear gas to restrain them, shortly after a convoy of tractors trundled through the Delhi's outskirts. (Photo by Manish Rajput/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Even as the police have asked the farmers to vacate the protest site, Naresh Tikait, president of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU), has announced the end of farmers’ protests in Ghazipur. However, Rakesh Tikait has refused to surrender to the police or vacate the protest site.

Protesters remove police barricades from the road during the demonstration.

In Muzaffarnagar, he said, “The picket at Ghazipur (border) will end today.” However, his brother and BKU spokesperson, Rakesh Tikait, said that he would continue to protest on the Ghazipur border.

However, a defectionist Rakesh Tikait has refused to surrender to the police or vacate the protest site. He has now gone on a hunger strike and said that he will drink only water from his village. He also threatened that people would come from villages if needed ‘.

However, the division among peasant unions is widening after the shameful Republic Day violence. On Thursday, the Bharatiya Kisan Union (Lok Shakti) and the Kisan Mahapanchayat withdrew from the protests.

Meanwhile, the UP police have given an ultimatum to the protesters to evacuate the Ghazipur protest site. Following the ultimatum, many farmers have started evacuating the site.