News
Farmers strip to meet the PM but he stays away
Passers-by were agog when scores of farmers congregating in the middle of busy Colombo began taking off their clothes on Thursday. Tourists began videoing the unusual sight as farmers stripped on the crowded roadside at Lipton Circus in Colombo 7.
Off came shirts, sarongs and trousers as 100 farmers stripped down to a loincloth – the traditional attire worn in the fields – in preparation for a protest march to Temple Trees, the Prime Minister’s official’s residence.
Farmer associations, backed by the JVP, were marching to demand that the government restore the system of issuing fertiliser to growers instead of issuing vouchers for fertiliser.
The growers, mostly from Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, Hambantota and Monaragala, claimed that that the voucher system was too complicated for them and was a loss to them.
With mammoties and sickles in hand and accompanied by wives and children the black loincloth-clad farmers marched along Dharmapala Mawatha to Kollupitiya almost up to Temple Trees before being blocked by police at barricades.
JVP MP K.D. Lalkantha and All-Island Farmers Federation (AIFF) national organiser Namal Karunaratne led the protest.
Mr. Lalkantha said both previous and current governments had failed to gazette realistic prices for fertiliser and that Rs. 25,000 vouchers to treat each two-and-a-half acres of land owned by farmers was inadequate.
The farmers shouted that the government was destroying them by taking away hard-earned fertiliser provisions and replacing them with cash vouchers.
“Menna bolle annduwak, goviya nasana anduwak (this is a peculiar government, a government that destroys the farmer),” the protesters called out.
“Satan karala dinnagathu anduwak, jala widuliya bus gasthu ihla damma anduwak (here is a government that we formed with a struggle that now increases bus fares, water and electricity charges), sahana kapana anduwak (a government that does away with relief measures).”
Some 200 riot-squad policemen at three lines of barriers faced the farmers approaching the rear entrance of Temple Trees. Two trucks armed with water cannon stood ready.
The farmers pushed over the first row of barriers but were not able to penetrate the second and third rows as police braced themselves with all their might against the metal structures.
A few farmers, along with JVP Member Lalkantha and Namal Karunaratne, were allowed to cross the barriers to hold talks with the police and the others were told to suspend the protest while their leaders were in discussion.
Then an Assistant Secretary appeared and said Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe was not available to meet the protesters.
The farmers’ anger came to boiling point; some climbed on top of the barriers and chanted slogans through a loudspeaker while police held on to the barriers.
Farmers are seen shouting slogans. Pix by Amila Gamage
The Prime Minister’s Secretary, Saman Ekanayake, appeared before the protesters, yet they refused to hand over their petition to the Prime Minister and insisted that a date be set up for discussions.
All-Island Farmers Federation (AIFF)National Organiser Namal Karunaratne then ended the protest, thanking the farmers and telling them that the Prime Minister was not bothered enough to leave a message or discuss the vouchers and therefore they had to regroup and educate the public.
The ministers who voted for the budget should realise that they can be defeated at the next election, Mr. Karunaratne said.
The angry farmers booed at every mention of the Prime Minister. Where is the king of farmers hiding, one called out.
Rankamadama Wimalasena, a 55-year-old farmer from Embilipitiya, said it was sad that the police, who represent the law, wait with water cannon and barriers to keep farmers, the food providers, at bay.
“We feed the country, we grow the paddy that every policeman eats but they won’t let us meet the Prime Minister and want to give us teargas or baton blows,” he said.
A paddy farmer from Anuradhapura, K.N. Siripala, explained that previously the government gave a farmer a 50kg bag of fertiliser for Rs. 350 but with the market price of a 50kg fertiliser bag being more than Rs. 2,000 the government’s proposal of providing vouchers to the tune of Rs. 6,250 per acre was inadequate.
“Farmers have to leave their farms to get the voucher from the distributors and they have to deal with paperwork, and both are unfamiliar tasks,” he said.
Mr. Siripala also said the school uniform voucher plan was a flop and did not give his children money to buy enough material for their uniforms.
Chaminda Walpola, 38, a farmer who travelled from Hambantota, accused the government of bringing in the voucher scheme to fool simple farmers.
He said the previous government had also reduced aid and increased prices by attaching an insurance premium which was never paid out when crops were damaged,