Ink attack on Rakesh Tikait: RLD urges Karnataka govt for quick action against culprits

PTI, May 31, 2022, 8:10 AM IST

Bengaluru: The Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) on Monday dubbed as “shameful” the ink attack on farmer leader Rakesh Tikait in Bengaluru and demanded that the Karnataka government take strict action against the miscreants immediately.

The ink was hurled at Tikait, the national spokesperson of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU), Monday morning during an event organised by a farmers’ body in the capital city of the BJP-governed state.

“The misbehaviour with BKU national spokesperson Rakesh Tikait in Bengaluru is shameful. The Karnataka government should ensure strict action against the culprits immediately,” RLD chief Jayant Chaudhary said in a statement.

“It’s a condemnable act! Small people commit such acts with an objective to get everybody’s attention,” he said.

Soon after the ink attack on Tikait, clashes took place between the organisers and the miscreants leading to both sides attacking each other with plastic chairs.

Reacting to the incident, Tikait alleged that the ink attack on him was in connivance with the state government.

“The local police are responsible for it and it happened due to the connivance of the government,” he told reporters in Bengaluru.

Tikait, a vocal critic of the BJP, is one of the prominent faces of the 2020 farmers’ protest against the now-repealed three central agri-marketing laws.

Tikait’s BKU was part of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), which had led the over-a-year-long protest against the Centre at Delhi’s borders.