Bharatiya Kisan Union leader Rakesh Tikait has accused the BJP, without naming it, of hiring jobless youths to attack him at a rally held in Muzaffarnagar on Friday to condemn the Pahalgam attack.

Police have detained a young man for allegedly shoving the farmer leader while he was about to climb the dais at the Jan Akrosh Rally, causing his turban to fall off.

Tikait, a staunch critic of the Narendra Modi and Yogi Adityanath governments, then walked off in a huff without addressing the gathering, organised by various social organisations at the Town Hall Ground in Muzaffarnagar.

"We are the real nationalists but those who planned an attack on me were Nagpuriya agenda agents," Tikait alleged on Saturday at a "mahapanchayat" of farmers, held in Sisauli, Muzaffarnagar, to protest the "attack" on him.

Nagpur is the headquarters of the RSS, the ideological fountainhead of the BJP.

As Tikait was preparing to address Friday’s rally, some people began chanting "Jai Shri Ram", "Go back" and "Shoot the traitors" while some waved BJP and RSS flags. Tikait was shoved amid the commotion.

Saurabh Verma, the detained youth, told reporters from police custody that it was an accident: "I didn’t touch the BKU leader’s headgear intentionally. Still, I apologise to him. I respect him."

Tikait told the mahapanchayat: "I don’t want any action against the person who attacked me because I don’t know under what compulsions he agreed to do it. But the political party that organised the attack belongs to the real terrorists. Our tractors will march to Delhi if they don't mend their ways."

The BKU had played a key role during the 2020-21 farmers' protest at Delhi’s doorstep.

Many Samajwadi Party MPs and MLAs attended the mahapanchayat. Tikait fell ill at the event and was taken to hospital, apparently having suffered a heat stroke.

Muzaffarnagar superintendent of police Satyanarayan Prajapat denied any attack on Tikait.