Rakesh Singh Tikait is the National Spokesperson of Bharatiya Kisan Union and the most recognised public face of the organisation. He was born in Sisauli, Muzaffarnagar — the same village from which his father Chaudhary Mahendra Singh Tikait built BKU into a national farmer force. Rakesh Tikait grew up watching his father transform rural grievance into organised, principled, and effective political pressure.
Before committing fully to the farmers' movement, Rakesh Tikait served in the Delhi Police — a career that gave him a practical understanding of the state and its institutions, which he would later engage as an adversary, a negotiating partner, and a platform for raising farmer concerns. He joined BKU's active leadership following his father's death in 2011 and steadily became its most prominent public voice.
His most significant national moment came during the 2020–21 farmers' protest at the Ghazipur border. On January 28, 2021, as the protest appeared to be on the verge of collapse in the aftermath of the events of January 26, Tikait's tearful, unscripted, and defiant address — broadcast live — changed the course of the agitation. Farmers from across western Uttar Pradesh drove through the night to stand at Ghazipur. The protest was revived, sustained for nearly a year, and ultimately resulted in the repeal of all three farm laws in November 2021.
Rakesh Tikait continues to travel across India conducting kisan panchayats, raising farmer issues in public discourse, and maintaining BKU as a consistent, long-term advocate for agrarian justice. He is widely respected for placing the movement above personal political ambition — a quality that connects him deeply to BKU's founding ethos.
