Muzaffarnagar, May 15 (IANS) Mahendra Singh Tikait, prominent north Indian farmer leader and founder president of Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU), died here Sunday morning, his family said. He was 76.

Mahendra Singh Tikait was suffering from bone cancer. The end came at his son Rajesh Tikait's residence here.

Thousands of farmers, politicians and social workers paid their homage to Mahendra Singh Tikait, who enjoyed a strong following in this region.

According to his son Rajesh, Mahendra Singh Tikait's "body will be carried to his native village Sisauli around 4 p.m. and the funeral will take place on Monday at 11 a.m."

Born Oct 6, 1935, Mahendra Singh Tikait emerged as a powerful farmer leader in the agriculturally rich western Uttar Pradesh in 1987 when he raised his voice for the cause of sugarcane growers.

Eventually, he was called by then Uttar Pradesh chief minister Narain Dutt Tiwari for talks, which resolved the crisis.

His last formidable show of strength came in 2010, when he staged a massive panchayat in Muzaffarnagar to oppose moves in favour of intra-gotra (sub-caste) marriages.

The farmer community, largely dominated by Jats in western Uttar Pradesh, is deeply wedded to their age old social tradition of not allowing marriages within the same gotra of a particular caste.