TN farmers threaten to drink urine today
I know it is humiliating to eat and drink our own waste. But should the government not be ashamed of forcing us to use such desperate steps?
The protest by Tamil Nadu farmers at Jantar Mantar is set to go from curious to revolting as the protesters vowed to drink their urine on Saturday if the government did not pay heed to their demands.
Determined to get heard, they also said that if they are still ignored by the Centre, they will be forced to eat human faeces on Sunday.
The farmers have been grabbing headlines for their unique, and sometimes bizarre, methods of protest since they arrived in Delhi over 38 days ago. Armed with skulls, which they claimed to be of farmers who had committed suicide, they have stripped naked, bitten mice and snake, conducted mock funerals and even been flogged. They are now sitting at Jantar Mantar with urine collected in plastic bottles, awaiting a response from the government.
“We are not getting water to drink in Tamil Nadu, and PM Modi has been ignoring our thirst. So, we will have to quench our thirst with our own urine,” said P Ayyakkannu, the state president of the National SouthIndian Rivers Linking Farmers’ Association who is leading the protest.
On Wednesday, the farmers had agreed to “wait patiently” for two days, to give the government and ministers some time to get the affairs in order. The decision had come after the farmers met Pon Radhakrishnan, minister of state for road transport and highways, who is the only elected BJP MP from Tamil Nadu.
The minister had allegedly assured the farmers that he would talk to finance minister about their plight and try to come up with a solution by May 15. According to the farmers who met the minister, Radhakrishnan had said that he will try to get all loan collections and payments postponed for a year. He had also assured the farmers that any attempt to seize property, will also be suspended during this time. Ayyakkannu said that the minister had assured them of help in getting new loans, but was non-committal on the other demands, like the interlinking of rivers and setting up of a Cauvery Management Board.
However, as the protesting farmers at Jantar Mantar are yet to hear from the government, many claim that they are being forced to resort to such measures. “I know it is humiliating to eat and drink our own waste. But, should the government not be ashamed of forcing us farmers to use such desperate measures? If only Modi would meet with us and hear us out,” said 65-yearold Palanichamy, who has been protesting at the site since day one.
The farmers have been demanding intervention by Centre to write off their loans from nationalised banks, a revised drought relief package and resolve the alleged drying up of the Tamil Nadu leg of the Kaveri river. The state government and the Madras High Court have already waived their loans from co-operative banks.