Bharatiya Kisan Union President Mahendra Singh Tikait died in Muzaffarnagar on May 15, 2011

Mahendra Singh Tikait was a popular Indian leader of farmer's from Western Uttar Pradesh in India. He was born in 1935 at village Sisauli in Muzaffarnagar District of Uttar Pradesh. Bharatiya Kisan Union President Mahendra Singh Tikait died in Muzaffarnagar on May 15, 2011, Uttar Pradesh due to protracted illness from cancer. He was 76. India. He was a Jat of Raghuvanshi gotra andChoudhary of Balyan Khap.

He was a farmer leader and President of Bharatiya Kisan Union. He led a number of mass Kisan movements against the state and central governments in India to support the rights of the farmers. He led many international delegations with him around the globe. The character of Kisan movements since the 1970s has been a matter of considerable debate. Bhartiya Kisan Union(BKU)worked in close cooperation with international organizations like La Via Campesina,Farmers Coordination Committee India etc.

The BKU received national attention in 1988, when its supporters organised a virtual siege in Meerut in pursuit of higher prices for Sugarcane, cancellation of loans and lowering of water and electricity rates.

In 2006, around one lakh (100,000)farmers gathered in Mumbai during heavy rains to protest against Government's WTO and anti-farmers policies.A memorandum addressed to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was released urging to keep agriculture out of WTO. Mahendra Singh Tikait, president of BKU said " It does not matter how much it rains here. We will not stop our fight. The Government will have to hear us. We need a change of Policies
Mahendra Singh Tikait, the BKU Chaudhary ('Headman') was born in 1935 at village Sisauli in Muzaffarnagar of Uttar Pradesh. Ch. Mahendra Singh Tiakait inherited the Chaudharyship of the Khap Baliyan at the age of eight when his father Ch.Chauhal Singh died in 1943.The Chaudharyship of the Baliyan khap had been vesting in his family for the last thirteen centuries. The chaudharyship of a khap panchayat is a hereditary position. The Chaudahry enjoys administrative, adjucative and executive powers over the khap villages. The chaudhary is held in high esteem and his decisions are binding on his people. At a panchayat meeting of the khap Baliyan held at Sisauli on May 12,1941, a resolution was passed which said : " We will work with our body, hear and soul under the leadership of our Chaudhary for the good of our Khap. Towards this end the Chaudhary of a khap has the right even to demand our lives." Thus the Chaudahry of a khap panchayat enjoys supreme powers.
After the death of former Prime Minsiter late Ch.Charan Singh in western U.P. he was called the second 'messiah' of kisans. On 17th October,1986 he formed a non-political orgarnisation named 'Bhartiya Kisan Union' to protect the interests of all the farmers of India whose are 80 percent of the population of the country. In this way he headed so many movements and as a result of these agitations,many times, he was arrested and sent to jail, yet he is on the way to protect the interest of all the kisans of India.