Jantar Mantar protest: 64-year-old Kerala man grabs attention with Adivasi attire

New Delhi: Among the hundreds of farmers who began their demonstration at the Jantar Mantar over a slew of issues, 64-year-old Sriaj Kodyuriv from Kerala garnered the most attention with his Adivasi attire.

Kodyuriv reached Delhi on Monday after covering a three-day train journey from Kerala. For several hours, he stood at Jantar Mantar holding placards that read ‘Implement MSP, Save farmer’.

“Farmers are closest to nature. If they abandon their farm equipment, we won’t be getting any food. So farmers should be saved. I am here for this,” Kodyuriv said.

Asked why he chose the Adivasi attire, he said: “This is to send a message that the farmers and tribal people deserve their rights.”

Jantar Mantar buzzed with voices of dissent on Monday as farmers from all over the country gathered here demanding a law ensuring minimum support price for crops, farm loan waiver, and the sacking of Union minister Ajay Mishra.

Ajay Mishra is the father of Ashish Mishra, an accused in a case related to mowing down four farmers in Lakhimpur Kheri in Uttar Pradesh during a farmer protest last October.

Farmers, hundreds in number, launched their protest amid heavy security arrangements in a ‘mahapanchayat’ called by the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) at Jantar Mantar.

They waved flags, wore caps with the name of their farm organisations inscribed on them, and raised slogans for farmer unity and against the Centre accusing it of not coming good on its promises.

Magha Nibori, a farmer from Punjab with one acre of farmland which he cultivates with seasonal crops, said he came here fully prepared to stay put if required. Many travelled thousands of kilometres to take part in the maha panchayat.

I am here from Cochin. Around 250 people have come from Kerala and nearby states to urge PM Modi to agree to our demands regarding the MSP law, and other issues. We want India to withdraw from the WTO. Ajay Mishra should resign, said Paulsen, a 50-year-old farmer from Cochin, Kerala.

Unique protests

Many farmers registered their protest in their own unique ways. One of them came wearing a garland of garlic, while another, a woman, wore a saree with tricolours.

“The government made a promise but now they are not doing anything. There is no concrete action taken by the government. If we can raise a person to power. We can also bring him down. The government should understand this,” Kavita, clad in a tricolour print saree, said.

As farmers associated with different unions reached Delhi, police obstructed their way to the protest site erecting deep layers of barricades across entry points of the city, and checked every vehicle entering the national capital, causing huge traffic jams.

Besides the borders Ghazipur, Singhu and Tikri, key stretches on the Delhi-Meerut Expressway, the Palam flyover, Aurobindo Marg, Ring Road (near Indraprastha Park), the Ghaziabad-Wazirabad road, and the Munirka road, and several other stretches, witnessed traffic snarls.

Other than north India, farmers from states such as Karnataka, Maharashtra, Odisha and Kerala arrived in Delhi to take part in the “mahapanchayat.”