Delhi: Protesting Tamil Nadu farmers turn desperate, drink urine to highlight demands

Farmers drinking urine at Jantar Mantar. (ANI)

In a bid to make their voices heard by the Centre, Tamil Nadu farmers, who are protesting at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar over drought relief funds and waiver of farmers’ loans, on Saturday drank their own urine as a mark of protest, news agency ANI reported. These farmers said they were doing so in protest against lack of drinking water in Tamil Nadu. “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 by Hindustan Times. Ayyakkannu is leading the farmers’ protest.

“We can’t even sleep for longer hours. We wake up at 4 or 5 am and come up with different ways to highlight our plight,” Ayyakkannu had said earlier this week.

Protesters doing a mock funeral at Jantar Mantar as MDMK chief Vaiko interacts with them at Jantar Mantar. PTI/File

These farmers have been protesting at the Jantar Mantar in the national capital since March 14. They are protesting to demand a drought relief package of Rs 40,000 crore, farm loan waiver and setting up of Cauvery Management Board by the Centre. In order to grab attention of the authorities, the farmers have used human skulls in their protest and protested naked in front of the Prime Minister’s house. The farmers claimed the skulls were of those farmers who had committed suicide previously. They have also worn sarees, shaved their heads and faces and even conducted mock funerals to garner the attention of politicians.

With inputs from PTI