Protesting TN farmers strip outside PMO

NEW DELHI: Tamil Nadu farmers, who are protesting in Delhi for drought relief fund, stripped outside South Block near Rashtrapati Bhavan on Monday after they were allegedly not allowed to meet PM Narendra Modi.

Three of the protesting farmer stripped, shouted slogans and rolled on the road chanting “Shiva”. Cops intervened and took the protesters back to their site at Jantar Mantar. According to the protesters, a group of nine Tamil Nadu farmers, including their leader P Ayyakannu, had gone to Rashtrapati Bhavan hoping to meet Modi and to submit their list of grievances and demands. However, the farmers said they were not allowed to enter and asked to send a representative in. Soon after, the farmers started agitating by stripping on Raisina Hill. Three of them, aged between 32 and 59 years, also rolled on the ground. The farmers, who have been protesting in Delhi for nearly a month, decided not to end their stir since the Madras High Court order last Tuesday asking the state government to write off all agricultural loans from corporative banks failed to address all their concerns. The farmers also want the loans taken from nationalised banks to be written off.

The farmers have been demanding loan waivers, revised drought relief packages and the constitution of a Cauvery management board for a solution to the alleged drying up of the Tamil Nadu leg of the river.