The protest by farmers from Tamil Nadu at the Jantar Mantar entered its 15th day on Tuesday, with leaders across the political spectrum offering their support to them. However, protestors said that they will only breathe a sigh of relief once their demands are accepted by the government.
The protestors have done everything from displaying the skulls of fellow farmers who had committed suicide, to dressing up as corpses and holding live mice in their mouths, to get a drought relief package of R40, 000 crores from the Centre and farm loan waiver.
On Tuesday, Lok Sabha deputy speaker, Mr. M Thambidurai, visited the farmers for the second time and assured them that the issue would be placed before the Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“We have raised this issue in the parliament. The plight of the farmers cannot be ignored. Farmers in many other parts of the country are also facing similar ordeals. We will be taking up their concerns with the PM,” said Mr. Thambidurai.
Several members of various political parties and the film fraternity have visited the famers in the last fortnight, and extended their support to the farmers’ cause.
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader, Mr. Somnath Bharti also visited the farmers and promised to do their best for the cause of the farmers.
“Farmers are the lifeline of an agrarian economy such as ours. If the government ignores their plight they are headed towards their own doom. With the droughts in states such as Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra, it is high time the Centre wakes up,” Mr. Bharti said.
The farmers, in the evening, met with the President, Mr. Pranav Mukherjee, and submitted a memorandum of their demands.
“We hope our demands would be considered by the honourable President. He is our only hope. We will have to kill ourselves if we do not get a solution for this. Many of us have sol off everything and have nothing left to survive,” said Mr. P. Ayyakannu, the leader of the farmer movement.
