Haryana farmers hold protests on IYD to highlight their plight

Farmers gathered at various places in Haryana on the occasion of International Yoga Day today and held "symbolic protests" to highlight the plight of the peasants of the country.
They also condemned the police firing on the agitating farmers in Mandsaur in Madhya Pradesh earlier this month in which five cultivators were killed.
In Karnal, Congress state president Ashok Tanwar along with some agitating farmers performed 'Shavasana' or the corpse pose, which is usually done at the end of yoga practice, to highlight the farmers' plight.
He started his three-day 'satyagraha' in Karnal, the assembly constituency represented by Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, on June 19 over agrarian crisis and to demand implementation of the Swaminathan Commission report.

He said farmers want debt waiver, round-the-clock power supply and adequate price for their crops.
Led by the Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) and other outfits, farmers gathered at various places in Haryana including Jind, where they performed yoga in the middle of the road.

In Jind, they performed 'Sirsasana' or head stand pose, to portray their "miserable condition".
BKU state president Rattan Mann said farmers had performed 'Sirsasana' today , but if their demands were not met, they would make the government do 'Sirsasana' in the 2019 elections.
The agitators demanded that they should be allowed to decide the price of their crops and it should not be done by the government or the traders. They also demanded waiver of loans and implementation of Swaminathan Committee report on payment of the minimum support price (MSP).

They accused the state as well as central governments of failing to provide relief to the farming community.
A senior BKU leader had earlier said that farmers had chosen International Yoga Day for protest as they wanted to attract the attention of the entire world towards their plight.
The opposition parties, including Congress and Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), have also lent their support to the agitating farmers.