New Delhi: Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rakesh Tikait on Saturday issued an indirect threat to the Central government over the ongoing farmers' protest and said that if required they will use Russian tractors to enter the Delhi border. According to him, the Russian tractors are very powerful and will crush everything that comes in their way. "It is a kind of an automatic tractor, when left on gear, it won't stop and will crush everything which comes on its way. When the need arises, these tractors will be used to enter Delhi. We are not taking our tractors anywhere right now, but we have several of these tractors," said Tikait while speaking to ANI.
The BKU leader has brought a Russian tractor to the protest site at the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border to display the farmers' power. "This tractor is 53-years-old. As per the guidelines of the government, tractors should be replaced within 10 years. However, several such Russian tractors are still working. This tractor will go to National Green Tribunal (NGT)'s office. We will show this tractor to the NGT officials that such tractors are still working," stressed Tikait stating that it is not a violation of rules to use 53-year-old tractors.
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"We have been sitting here on protest for the last 7 months, isn't this violation of the law? If the government hasn't done anything to end our protest how will it stop the tractors to ply on roads?" he said. Tikait further said, "These tractors were imported from Russia during the Green Revolution. The speed of these vehicles is less but did a good ploughing work on the fields."