Five Tamil farmers, including a woman, cut their palm and ‘shed blood’ to protest the ‘stepmotherly’ attitude of the Central government here on Friday. The farmers have been protesting at Jantar Mantar for over two weeks now demanding that the government waive their agriculture loans.
‘We have nothing left’
“We have shed our blood to highlight the miserable condition of the farmers and the inhuman conditions that we are forced to live in. Today, we have given our blood also to the protest. There is nothing more that the government can take away from us. We have nothing else left,’’ said a farmer here.
On Thursday some farmers suffered severe heat stroke and were rushed to a hospital with dehydration and dysentery.
While four persons were discharged the same day, one person was held back for treatment.
Want drought relief
Earlier, several political leaders including Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) M.K. Stalin met the protesters. Mr. Stalin was informed that more than one-third of the paddy fields in Tamil Nadu have gone unsown due to a particularly bad monsoon. The farmers are demanding a drought relief package of ₹40,000 crore for their State.
“Even Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi met us. All these leaders have extended their support to us and though we appreciate this what we need to know is how this helps us. The Madras High Court order is welcome but that hasn’t helped us at present. We farmers don’t have bank balance to plan ahead. Our life starts and ends with each crop,’’ said another farmer. “It seems that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is neglecting farmers and helping the rich,’’ they added.
