was generally regarded as a “kisan neta”. Physical proximity from national capital gave him the advantage which other farmers’ leaders, including Joshi, did not have. Tikait was never shy of his village ways. His clothes, language, mannerism might have seemed odd to an urban person but for his constituency of farmers they were an asset. He always carried a huge hukka with him and would be surrounded by four-five gun-wielding bodyguards. He was blunt and sharp with people but somehow even journalists were happy to court him because he had “news value”. He had been to Ambethan a couple of times to meet Joshi and Joshi too had been to his village. Tikait had objected to women workers present at Ambethan as that was not something he was used to. When he met Joshi, who was wearing Jeans and T-Shirt, he had commented, ‘I don’t even meet people who are dressed like this.’ It would suffice to say that as personalities, they were poles apart. Many colleagues of Joshi did not like Tikait with his outlandish attitudes but somehow Joshi persuaded them to cooperate with him. Joshi knew the importance of Jat farmers in making a nationwide impact. Joshi got Tikait to attend five or six meetings of Kisan Coordination Committee. Tikait was very adamant about never including politicians and often criticized Joshi for his friendship with politicians. Somehow the two continued to work together keeping in mind the larger interest. But at times the rift between them would create unpleasant scenes. For instance, at a meeting of KCC in Delhi on 11 and 12 September 1988, in the middle of the proceedings he got up and said to Joshi, ‘You have joined hands with V.P. Singh and therefore I cannot work with you.’ Joshi’s repeated attempts to pacify him yielded no success and along with his colleagues Tikait walked out of the meeting. This rift was widely reported in the Press which further added oil to that fire. It is interesting Farmers on the National Agenda
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