Bengaluru Bandh: During the continuing dispute between the states over the Cauvery river, a group of Tamil Nadu farmers in Tiruchirappalli protested the Karnataka administration by holding dead rats in their mouths.
Tamil Nadu Farmers’ Unique Protest Gains Immediate Attention
Within an hour of being shared, the news agency ANI’s video of the “protest” had more than 62,000 views. The “protest” appears to be a show of force to demonstrate that if Karnataka does not release Cauvery water, the farmers—who have already been driven into poverty after the water crisis damaged the cultivation of paddy—will be compelled to consume rat flesh in order to survive.
Unusual Demonstrations to Highlight Water Crisis Plight
Farmers have used this tactic of protest before, though, so it’s not new. To highlight the plight of Tamil Nadu’s farmers, 65-year-old Chinnagodangy Palanisamy held a live mouse between his teeth in 2017. “I and my fellow farmers were trying to convey the message that we will be forced to eat mice if things don’t improve,” he told the BBC. In Bengaluru, a bandh was called on Tuesday to express opposition to Karnataka’s transfer of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu. The bandh has been declared by the ‘Karnataka Jala Samrakshana Samiti,’ an umbrella group of farmer-led organisations and associations.
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