Farmers plan to go into ‘protest asana’ on June 21

Thousands of farmers will practise yoga poses on state highways to highlight their plight

LUCKNOW: On Yoga Diwas ( June 21), while Prime Minister Narendra Modi and 70,000 other enthusiasts perform asanas at Rama Bai Ambedkar Ground, thousands of farmers will practise the yoga poses on all state highways leading to the state capital, as a mark of protest against the BJP government.

The protest has been called by the Bhartiya Kisan Union, which says farmers have no other option to get their grievances addressed. “It’s a shame that farmers have to protest in an agriculture-based nation to get their voices heard,” said Harinam Singh, divisional president, Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU), Lucknow.

The protest is expected to start at 9am and conclude at 1 pm. Initially, the time was fixed at 5am, but later changed. Singh said the protest would be silent. However, farmers would use props like wheat sacks and sugar cane to highlight specific problems.

“We are covering almost all the state highways leading to Kanpur, Sitapur, Hardoi, Rae Bareli, Faizabad, Sultanpur and Lakheempur and altogether 10,000 farmers are expected to perform yoga to oppose the Modi government,” said Singh.

He said on Kanpur highway, Shailendra Yadav would lead the protest, on Sitapur highway Azad Ansari would lead the farmers, on Hardoi highway Harivansh Tripathi, on Rae Bareli highway Lala Chaudhary and on Faizabad highway Gurmeet Singh would lead the protest.

He said the protest was to ‘wake up’ the Modi Government “I am surprised that the Modi government is yet to take concrete measures to pacify the agitated farmers across the country, who are fighting for their rights. Instead, the farmers are being killed,” he said. He said farmers would also protest to press other demands that include formation of an agriculture policy to save them from natural disasters like flood, drought or freak rains, and irregularities in wheat prices.