Muzaffarnagar: Indicating an end to the standoff between him and the district authorities for the last three days, BKU leader Mahendra Singh Tikait on Wednesday said his utterances against Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati were "a mistake" and that he was to surrender.
"I consider this (alleged castiest remarks against Mayawati) a mistake... It was a slip of the tongue. It is human to commit a mistake," he told reporters here after arriving here from Sisauli village, the BKU headquarters.
The farmers' leader, who reached his son Rakesh's house in the George Colony area along with a cavalcade of around 15 vehicles, said he was complying with the decision of the Mahapanchayat that he should give up before the authorities whose attempted arrest by the police had sparked violence in Sisauli on Monday.
"I was always willing to get arrested but the public resented it and hence I complied with their sentiments," he claimed.
On the moves of the state government, he said "all this happens... and someone who cannot face this will feel pressure. I have a lot of endurance."
Tikait also urged the farmers to remain peaceful and get back to their work in their fields.
Meanwhile, the national secretary of BKU Harpal Singh said that the party has demanded the release of Tikait's sons and farmers who have been arrested following the violence on Monday.