BJP Kisan Morcha supports protest of farmers from TN

Farmers from Tamil Nadu, who stripped outside the Prime Minister’s Office in the national capital on Monday, were back at their protest site at Jantar Mantar on Tuesday demanding that their agricultural loans be written off. Additionally, they are demanding a drought relief fund of ₹40,000 crore.

Having intensified the stir, their leader Ayyakkannu, who is also the president of South Indian Rivers Interlinking Agriculturalist Sangam (SIRIAS), declared that they would be here until all their demands are met, even if it means they have to stay back in Delhi for 100 days. They have been here for 29 days.

“We had met Finance Minister Arun Jaitley a few days ago and he had promised to support us. The BJP Kisan Morcha members had come to endorse and encourage us. We are not affiliated to any party. They have written off ₹7,000-crore loan from cooperative banks, but that doesn’t help us much as most of us have taken loans from nationalised banks. The state government is not bothered, and neither is the Centre. It is a sorry state of affairs,” says Ayyakkannu.

“Some of us who are protesting here do not have loans, but there are people who have taken loans up to ₹5 lakh. We are doing it for our children. Some of the districts in the state are facing extreme drought, and there is no water. There are farmers from 28 districts here. How are we expected to survive?” asks JP Krishnan, state vice-president, SIRIAS.

“Loans of businessmen and corporations are waived off, but what about those of the farmers. The Centre can help Bangladesh, but not the agriculturalists in the country. Does everyone want to force the farmer out of their agricultural land? During elections, everyone comes to us, but now, we are treated like untouchables. The only option we have is to die here,” adds Ayyakkannu.

The protestors allege that bank officials turn up at their homes in Tamil with hired thugs to bully them and the women of the houses. “Many farmers have committed suicide because they cannot repay the loan,” says Ramalingam, one of the protestors, who stripped on Monday along with Saravana Vasudevan and Palanivel after failing to meet the Prime Minister.

At the PMO, they said, security personnel took their representation and gave a copy back after stamping the receipt. The cavalier attitude angered some of them into jumping out of the vehicle and stripping, they explained.