Tamil Nadu farmers on Monday protested in the nude outside the Prime Minister’s Office in Delhi’s North Block after they were not allowed to meet Narendra Modi to discuss the drought relief fund. The farmers have been protesting for the past 28 days at Jantar Mantar in the national Capital.
The protestors, who were assured of a meeting with the prime minister on Monday, were instead asked to submit a memorandum. When they were being escorted out of the PMO building in a police vehicle, one of the farmers jumped out of the van and stripped on the road. Two other farmers joined him in protest. Some other farmers rolled on the road naked.
“We have no other go, that is why we are running naked,” one of the lead protestors Iyyakannu said. “This is our sad state, look at our pathetic state.”
The agitators were later arrested by the police. The Bharatiya Janata Party said it condemned the naked protest in Delhi, adding that the state [Tamil Nadu] government was instigating the protestors, The News Minute added.
Besides a drought fund of Rs 40,000 crore, the farmers have demanded for their loans to be waived off and pensions for those farmers who do not work on the field anymore.
The protestors had initially not been noticed in the Capital and resorted to several unusual methods to draw attention to their demands. Over the course of the past month, they had shaved half of their moustaches, shaved half their heads, held pieces of dead animals like snakes in their mouths, and displayed the skulls of other farmers who had killed themselves because of the massive debt they are facing. The state is expected to face drought this year too.
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