On Saturday, Tamil Nadu farmers protesting in New Delhi drank their own urine to draw attention to the ongoing drought crisis in their home state. They are 40 days into their protest at Jantar Mantar now and have said that the central government has not accepted their demands of drought relief.
State president of the National South-Indian Rivers Linking Farmers’ Association, P Ayyakkannu told Hindustan Times, “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.” They have vowed to eat their own faeces if their demands are not met.
The farmers have been criticised by some groups for going to such extreme measures to get attention. Last week, a man wearing a mask of Narendra Modi whipped the farmers at Jantar Mantar to depict what they are going through.
Now, Swaraj Abhiyan President Prashant Bhushan has offered his support to the farmers too, India Today reported. He has filed a plea in the Supreme Court asking that Tamil Nadu be added to the states receiving drought relief.
Besides a drought fund of Rs 40,000 crore, the farmers have demanded their loans be waived and asked for pensions for those farmers who do not work on the field anymore. The protestors had initially not been noticed in the Capital and had resorted to several unusual methods to draw attention to their demands. Over the course of the past month, they have shaved half of their moustaches and heads, eaten off the road, 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.
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