CHENNAI: On the 18th day of their ‘unique’ protest in New Delhi against the apathy towards the farming community, farmers from Tamil Nadu received the support of Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi on Friday. After spending nearly 20 minutes with farmers, Mr Gandhi used the platform to tear into Prime Minister Narendra Modi and accused him of “disrespecting” farmers from Tamil Nadu who have been protesting at the Jantar Mantar for more than two weeks.
“The Prime Minister has disrespected drought-hit farmers of Tamil Nadu by not initiating talks with them over their demands for relief package,” Mr Gandhi said, accusing the Narendra Modi-led Government of being “anti-poor and anti-farmer”. Mr Gandhi, who was accompanied by TNCC chief Su Thirunavukarasar and former Union Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar, also alleged that the BJP Government at the Centre was only pandering to a select group of industrialists.
“The farmers have been sitting here for so long. But neither the government nor the Prime Minister is listening to them. The people and farmers of Tamil Nadu deserve to be heard by the Prime Minister who is disrespecting them by not initiating any dialogue,” he said. The Congress leader also sought to know why farm loans were not being waived off while debt worth Rs 1.4 lakh crore held by 50 industrialists have been written off. During the 15-minute interaction, he took note of all the demands of the protesters and assured them that the Congress will “fight for them and raise their grievances in Tamil Nadu as well as in Delhi and Parliament".
Cops deny permission for farmers’ conclave:
While the Centre turns a deaf ear to the demands of protesting farmers in New Delhi, the City Police, on its part, denied permission for an indoor ideation conference aimed at discussing issues plaguing agriculture besides empowering ryots. The 5-day event was scheduled to be held from Friday at YMCA, Nandanam, to be organised by Uzhave Thalai, a multi-disciplinary forum involving enthusiasts from various fields.
The venue was brought under the police control, which had it locked up and posted a posse of policemen to prevent the organisers and participants from entering the premises. The organisers were informed that they were denied permission while security reasons were cited for the decision. As the State is gearing up to face a historic drought coupled with long running inter-State river disputes, the forum decided to hold the event with representation of farmers across the State.
The organisers obtained permission from YMCA administration and paid the requisite fee to hold the conference. A petition presented to the City Police Commissioner by the forum stated that the police are threatening the participants and organisers that they would book them if they tried to enter the venue or were found loitering in the vicinity.
Terming it as a violation of fundamental rights to assemble peacefully, the forum claimed that it was deprived of its freedom of speech and expression, in an indoor event. "Our aim is to conduct a peaceful and productive farmers and public meet," read the petition from Chandra Mohan, organiser, Uzhave Thalai. By the time, the inauguration of the event was scuppered by police action, nearly 400 farmers from across the State had reached the City. The representatives of the forum met senior police officials and a round of unsuccessful talks were held. Until the time of going to press, the forum could not obtain permission for its event.
