Naresh Tikait Wiki, Age, Caste, Wife, Children, Family, Biography & More

Naresh Singh Tikait, the elder son of Mahendra Singh Tikait, is the president of Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU). He is the head of the Balyan Khap Panchayat, which he inherited from his father who had become the Chaudhary (head) of Balyan Khap at the age of eight.

Family & Caste

Naresh Tikait belongs to the Jaat community. ^[1]Economic Times

Parents & Siblings

Naresh Tikait’s father, Mahendra Singh Tikait, was considered a messiah of farmers. The Jat farmer leader who headed the Bharatiya Kisan Union for nearly 25 years died of bone cancer on 15 May 2011 at the age of 75.

Chaudhary Mahendra Singh Tikait delivering a speech to thousands of farmer protesters at Meerut’s CDA ground in 1988

Naresh Tikait’s mother’s name was Baljori Devi.

Naresh Tikait’s parents, Mahendra Singh Tikait and Baljori Devi

Naresh Tikait has three younger brothers named Rakesh Tikait, Surendra Tikait, and Narendra Tikait, and two sisters. Rakesh Tikait is the national spokesperson of Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) since 1997.

Rakesh Tikait

Surendra Tikait is the manager of a sugar mill in Meerut, while the youngest brother, Narendra Tikait, handles farming.

Surendra Tikait

Narendra Tikait in his fields

Children

Naresh Tikait’s son, Gaurav Tikait, is the youth president of Bharatiya Kisan Union.

Heading Balyan Khap of Jaats

Balyan is the name of a union of Jaats of Raghuvanshi gotra found in Western Uttar Pradesh and in some parts of Haryana. The head of Balyan Khap is referred to as Chaudhary. After the demise of Mahendra Singh Tikait in 2011, Naresh Singh Tikait took charge of Balyan Khap Panchayat. Also, the hereditary title “Tikait” used by Naresh and the male members of the Tikait family was initially conferred to the head of Baliyan Khap by Raja Harshavardhana, the Jat ruler of Thanesar in the 7th century. Since then, it is being used by every head of the Baliyan Khap and his male family members as their surname.

Activism For Farmers’ Rights

Naresh Tikait took over the reigns of Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) after the demise of his father in 2011. Since then, he has participated and led many movements for the rights of farmers.

Kisan Kranti Yatra

In October 2018, as the head of BKU, Naresh Tikait gave the call for Kisan Kranti Yatra from Tikait Ghat in Haridwar to Delhi. This was done to lay pressure on the union government to fulfil various demands of farmers, which comprised unconditional loan waiver for farmers, clearance of dues by sugar mill owners, higher prices for crops, free electricity for farms, and a cut in diesel prices. The farmers also demanded implementation of Swaminathan Committee Report. As thousands of protestors reached the Delhi border, section 144 was imposed in East and Northeast Delhi. Over 3,000 security personnel from Delhi Police and UP Police were deployed in the area to stop farmers from entering the national capital. Police had to use water cannons and tear gas to disperse the crowd.

Kisan Kranti Yatra at Delhi border

Eventually, the union government ministers met Tikait and other farmer leaders and persuaded them to end the agitation. Tikait and other leaders agreed to the government’s assurance on setting up a committee that would look at the demands of farmers, and thus, the protest was called off.

2020-21 Farmers’ protests

While his brother and BKU national spokesperson, Rakesh Singh Tikait, was one of the prominent farmers’ leaders leading the farmers’ agitation in Delhi, Naresh Tikait supported the movement from Muzaffarnagar. He used to visit the protest site occasionally.

Naresh Tikait addressing farmers during a protest against the new farm laws at Ghazipur Border on 23 December 2020

On the morning of 28 December 2021, Naresh decided to call off the farmers agitation on Ghazipur border in the light of the violence that erupted in the Republic Day tractor parade by farmers.

चौधरी महेंद्र सिंह टिकैत के बेटे और मेरे छोटे भाई राकेश टिकैत के ये आँसू व्यर्थ नहीं जाएंगे। कल सुबह महापंचायत होगी और अब हम इस आंदोलन को निर्णायक स्थिति तक पहुंचा कर ही दम लेंगे। pic.twitter.com/gSaqoi4xzk

— किसानों की आवाज़ (@KisanoKiAwaz) January 28, 2021

Controversies

• Chaudhary Jagbir Singh, president of Rashtriya Kisan Morcha in Muzaffarnagar, was shot dead on 6 September 2003 in village Alawalpur, UP. Former minister Yograj Singh, son of Jagbir Singh, named Chaudhary Naresh Tikait along with two young men in the murder conspiracy. The case is still going on in the Muzaffarnagar court.

• Naresh Tikait was one of the accused named in the FIRs filed over the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots between Hindus and Muslims. Here is a video from 2013 showing Naresh Tikait inciting people to use violence against Muslims.

• In November 2018, Naresh Tikait made a controversial comment on love marriages saying that love marriages are unacceptable in Balyan Khap, and they will never allow it. While speaking to media correspondents on the topic, Tikait said,
  

  हम लड़कियों को पढ़ाएं, उनकी पढाई में 20-30 लाख रुपये खर्च करें और शादी वो कर लें अपनी मर्ज़ी से तो परिवार की तो किरकिरी हो गयी, परिवार तो बर्बाद हो गया। हम तो न्यू कहवें के जब हमने पढ़ाई लिखाई तो उसकी शादी भी तो हम ही करें। प्रेम विवाह बहुत गलत है, हम तो इसकी कदी भी मंजूरी कोनी देनेके।”

• On 17 July 2023, a court in Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh, acquitted him in a murder case that dated back 20 years, citing a lack of evidence. Tikait had been charged with the murder of farmer leader Chaudhary Jagbir Singh in 2003. However, the court determined that there was insufficient evidence to prove his involvement in the crime, resulting in his acquittal. ^[2]The Print

Facts/Trivia

• Although Naresh Tikait was appointed as the head of BKU after the demise of his father (as per the rules of Khap, which says that only the eldest son can be the head), all the key decisions of the organisation are taken by his younger brother Rakesh Tikait.

• In August 2019, Naresh Tikait claimed that the people of his gotra Raghuvanshi are descendants of Lord Rama. He was one of the many individuals claiming Lord Rama’s legacy ^[3]NDTV