Tamil Nadu farmers at Jantar Mantar beat themselves with slippers, say ‘we are worse than beggars’

Tamil Nadu farmers protesting at the Jantar Mantar are not happy with the hike in salary of their state legislatures and beat themselves with slippers to register their anger against the state government as they demand for a drought relief package.

By: Express Web Desk

New Delhi | Updated: July 20, 2017 02:55 PM IST

Tamil farmers beat themselves with slippers says unhappy with the hike in salaries of their MLAs (Source: Twitter/ANI)

Farmers from Tamil Nadu who are protesting at the Jantar Mantar in Delhi demanding drought relief package and loan waiver are unhappy over the massive hike in salaries of their state legislators. The farmers, while expressing their anger, beat themselves with chappals (slippers) and shouted slogans. Leading the protest, P Ayyakannu, president of the National-South Indian Rivers Linking Farmers Association, told news agency ANI: “Being a farmer is worse than being a beggar in India.”

Recently, the monthly pay of Tamil Nadu legislators was increased from Rs 55,000 to Rs 1.05 lakh. At the same time, the MLA area development fund in the state was raised from Rs 2 crore to Rs 2.5 crore and allowances for the Chief Minister, Ministers, the Speaker, Deputy Speaker, the Leader of the Opposition and the Government Chief Whip were also increased with retrospective effect from July 1 this year.

The second phase of Tamil farmers protest began in New Delhi after the promises made to them by the government remain allegedly unfulfilled. The farmers who beat themselves with slippers on Thursday have resorted to unique ways of protesting in the past, which include shaving their heads, partially shaving their mustaches, holding mice and snakes in their mouths and even flogging themselves after which Tamil Nadu CM Edappadi Palaniswami had also met them. Tamil Nadu faced one of the worst droughts in over a century due to 60 percent deficit in rainfall.

The farmers who beat themselves with slippers on Thursday have resorted to unique ways of protesting in the past, which include shaving their heads, partially shaving their mustaches, holding mice and snakes in their mouths and even flogging themselves after which Tamil Nadu CM Edappadi Palaniswami had also met them. Tamil Nadu faced one of the worst droughts in over a century due to 60 percent deficit in rainfall.

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