TN farmers become desperate, say will drink urine, eat faeces if not heard
New Delhi: In a drastic step, farmers who have been protesting at Jantar Mantar for loan waiver vowed to drink their urine on Saturday if their demands were not heeded by the government.
According to a Hindustan Times report, the farmers have said that if the Centre still ignores their demands, they will eat faeces on Sunday.
“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,” P Ayyakkannu, the state president of the National South-Indian Rivers Linking Farmers’ Association was quoted as saying.
This is not the fist time farmers are resorting to unconventional protest forms since it started over a month ago. They have protested with skulls, allegedly of farmers who committed suicide, stripped, bitten mice and snakes and even held mock funerals.
The farmers had agreed to be patient for two days, giving some time for government to get affairs in order. The move had come after they met the Minister of state for road transport and highways Pon Radhakrishnan, the only Bharatiya Janata Party MP from Tamil Nadu.
Radhakrishnan allegedly had assured the farmers that he would talk to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and try to get a solution by May 15. He had also reportedly alleged that he would get all loan collections and payments postponed for a year. Also assuring that attempts to seize property will be suspended during this time, Radhakrishnan had promised them help for procuring new loans.
“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,” 65-year-old Palanichamy who has been protesting at the site since day one was quoted as saying.
The farmers from the state have been demanding a drought relief package of Rs 40,000 crore, farm loan waiver and setting up of Cauvery Management Board by the Centre. The state government has already waived its loans from cooperative banks.
