New Delhi: To highlight their problems due to stray cattle, several farmers in Uttar Pradesh's Barabanki released cattle at an open ground near the venue of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's rally on Tuesday. A video of the incident has now gone viral.
The video, tweeted by farmer leader Ramandeep Singh Mann, shows hundreds of cattle at an open ground. The stray cattle menace is a major poll plank in the Uttar Pradesh election.
"Before CM Adityanath's event in Barabanki, farmers drove hundreds of cattle from the fields and left them near the site of the rally. The farmers couldn't find a way out to handle these stray cattle," Ramandeep Singh Mann tweeted while posting the video.
"For five years the UP government also couldn't find a solution. The farmers wanted to see what solution the BJP brings before the event," he tweeted.
At the rally, Yogi Adityanath reminded the gathering about Prime Minister Narendra Modi's assurance on solving the stray cattle issue in UP if the BJP retained power in the state.
"A new system will be made after March 10 to deal with the problems that you people face due to stray animals. A system will be made so that you can earn income from the dung of an animal that does not give milk," PM Modi had said at a rally last week.
It is common in Uttar Pradesh for stray cattle to enter fields and target crops, especially in the Bundelkhand region. This leads to financial losses for farmers in the region who have to hold vigil all night on machans to ward off cattle.
Akhilesh Yadav's Samajwadi Party has announced it would provide a compensation of Rs 5 lakh each to the kin of those who died after being injured by stray bulls.
The Congress party, in its election manifesto, has promised a compensation of Rs 3,000 per acre of farm land damaged by stray cattle or other animals.