Salman Khan should apologise to Bishnoi community: Tikait

Amid reports of a threat to Bollywood star Salman Khan’s life from the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rakesh Tikait on Sunday said the actor should apologise to the Bishnoi community because if a dispute is resolved by apologising, then there is nothing wrong in it.

Tikait, who was here to take part in a farmers’ “Mahapanchayat”, said this while replying to a reporter’s question on jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi. “If any dispute ends by apologising to the Bishnoi community, then what is wrong in it? If a mistake has been made knowingly or unknowingly, then what does Salman Khan lose in apologising,” the farmer leader asked. He also alleged that the Uttar Pradesh Government, which had promised free electricity to farmers, had started installing meters in their fields.

“We do not know how free electricity will come from the meters,” he said while talking to reporters after the “Kisan Mahapanchayat” held at Mundera here. “If meters are to be installed, then they (BJP) will have to bring it in their manifesto before the 2027 (UP) Assembly polls. Otherwise, a meter will not be installed in a farmer’s field,” Tikait said.

He alleged that the crop was being procured from farmers in Jaunpur, Mirzapur and Ballia at Rs 1,200 per quintal. “The same is the case with maize. In Bihar alone, farmers have suffered a loss of Rs 1 lakh crore by selling crops at low prices,” Tikait said.