BJP is anti-farmer, say protesting farmers

Unhappy even after meeting the President and five central ministers, Tamil Nadu farmers protesting here for a month on Thursday expressed their anger against the BJP.

The farmers, who have been protesting at Jantar Mantar here, have been demanding loan waivers, drought relief packages and formation of a Cauvery management board to resolve their irrigation issues.

"The BJP is completely against farmers and is pro-corporate. They can waive of lakhs of crores of loans of the corporates but not farmers," said P. Ayyakannu, President of the National-South Indian Rivers Linking Farmers Association.

Tamil Nadu is facing a severe drought. In January, the state government declared Tamil Nadu drought-hit after over 100 farmers allegedly committed suicide.

Claiming that nothing has grown over 29 lakh hectare in Cauvery delta since 2016 due to lack of water, the protesting farmers said the BJP and its central government were apathetic to their suffering.

"Only President Pranab Mukherjee seemed serious about our issues, but none of the five ministers we met seemed really concerned," he said.

"Worse is that the Prime Minister is not even ready to meet us though we farmers stripped ourselves outside his office. Our action was meant to say we have nothing... We will continue our agitation."

The farmers had met Finance Minister Arun Jaitley thrice. He gave them assurances but the farmers don't see their demands being met yet.

Earlier this month, the central government approved Rs 1,712 crore under the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) for Tamil Nadu.

But the state government has sought a relief package of Rs 40,000 crore.

--IANS

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