Rakesh Singh Tikait, Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader, on Sunday stated the Union government was being run by businessman who were cashing in on hunger by snatching away land.

He was addressing a farmers’ rally in Rewa against the Centre’s three agri marketing laws.

“A new business to cash in on hunger has started. Humans get hungry two times a day, 700 times a year. When the food grains will be in their control, they will start the hunger business,” Tikait said.

He said in places in Rajasthan and Haryana, land was being bought by businessmen for paltry sums, and massive godowns, with storage capacities of 14 lakh metric tons, had come up, after which the Centre’s new farm laws came in.

“This means this government at the Centre is not run by a party, but by businessmen. It is not only farmers who are in trouble, the railways are being sold, but the opposition is weak, and young people who should have opposed such moves are sleeping,” Tikait claimed.

He asked people to come out and protest at the district level to get the new laws repealed, adding that farmers must sit at the collectorate and ensure their wheat is sold at Rs 1,975 per quintal.

Tikait is scheduled to address a farmers’ rally in Jabalpur on Monday.