Farmers hold 'vrodhasana' on UP highways

Around the time prime minister Narendra Modi was performing Yoga at Ramabai Ambedkar Maidan here and telling the people about its importance in life, thousands of farmers were performing 'virodhasana' (protest) on the highways in Uttar Pradesh to register their protest against death of farmers in police firing in Madhya Pradesh and ''anti-farmer'' policies of the NDA government.

 

The farmers performed 'shavasana' (an asana in which the person lies quietly on the ground as if he is dead) to register their protest and also raised anti-government slogans.

According to the police sources here, many state and national highways witnessed huge traffic jams following the protests from the farmers.

Sources said that the farmers blocked traffic on the highways in Kanpur, Jalaun, Faizabad, Barabanki, Meerut, Gorakhpur and many other places.

''Yoga is all right but we also want food...the exploitation of the farmers must stop,'' said Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) state vice-president Balram Lambardar, who led the farmers's protest in Jalaun, said.

He said that the farmers would continue to protest the wrong policies of the central and the state governments until their demands, which included complete waiver of all types of farm loans, raising the minimum support prices of the food grains and sugarcane and providing better marketing facilities were conceded.

Hundreds of farmers prostrated on the national highway connecting Lucknow with Gorakhpur bringing the traffic to a complete halt, sources said.

Farmers had a scuffle with the police in Meerut, when the latter tried to forcibly evict the farmers from the road. The farmers, who had blocked NH 58 left after the Yoga Day program in the state capital, which was led by Modi, was over.

Police officials here said that there was no report of any kind of violence from anywhere in the state. Security personnel in strength had been deployed on the highways to maintain law and order.