Farmers do shavasana on highway on Int'l Yoga Day in protest
Farmers across North India performed the 'shavasana' on highways on International Yoga Day as part of their ongoing protest across the country. Farmers in Madhya Pradesh also joined in, protesting the killing of five farmers in police firing in Mandsaur recently during an agitation. Farmers in UP called the government's loan waiver an eyewash, saying nobody benefited from it.
While PM Narendra Modi led the country in celebrating the International Yoga Day, farmers in a few states protested by performing shavasana (corpse pose) to highlight the agrarian crisis.In Madhya Pradesh, farmers under the banner of Bharatiya Kisan Mazdoor Sangh headed by Shivkumar Sharma demonstrated their protest by performing the 'shavasana', since their demands for loan waiver and better prices for the agriculture produce are still not met. They demanded action against the administrative and police officials responsible for the firing in Mandsaur which killed five farmers and left scores injured.Recently, on June 15, a large gathering of farmers from Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab and Madhya Pradesh converged at Jantar Mantar in the national capital to stage protest against their poor condition. The Kisan Mahapanchayat, organised by the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU), also protested today, organising a 'Yoga on Highways' session to protest alleged anti-farmer policies of the Modi government. In Barabanki, Uttar Pradesh, hundreds of farmers belonging to BKU laid on the highway performing 'shavasan', bringing the traffic on NH-28 to a standstill. However, they allowed ambulances and students to pass through.Harinam Singh Verma, a BKU leader said, "The loan waiver of Yogi was a mere eyewash and not a single farmer has benefited out of it. Imagine, we have to sell our milk at 25 Rs/litre, whereas bottled waters are sold at rs 50 to 60 of some brands."Mukesh Singh, another leader demanded higher support price for the produce. He lamented that, "The central government has failed to live up to its promises and the farmers are left to fend for themselves. We are agitated by what happened in Mandsaur." The farmers however cleared the highway for traffic after the token protest. Earlier, they had plans to stage the protest till 12.00 noon.According to the BKU President Naresh Tikait, while Prime Minister Modi performs Yoga at Lucknow Stadium; farmers all over the country will block highways between 9 am to 12 noon as a mark of protest. The Opposition has slammed the Centre for not managing the farmer crisis efficiently. Congress and other opposition parties criticised the BJP for making false promises of loan waivers. On June 19, Punjab became the third state this year after UP and Maharashtra to announce a waiver on crop loans.Also Read:International Yoga Day: Yoga is about an inexpensive health assurance, says PM ModiInternational Yoga Day: Tight security at Delhi's Connaught Place 