Tamil Nadu farmers protesting at Jantar Mantar 'eat' human flesh and excreta

In their first round of protests earlier this year, they had shaved their heads and half their moustaches, held mice and snakes in their mouths, conducted mock funerals, flogged themselves and even carried skulls of other farmers who had committed suicide due to debt pressure.

This photo taken September 6, 2017 shows Indian farmer Narayana Swami, 85, laying down during a hunger strike that his supporters say has lasted 10 days so far, at a protest for farmer's rights at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on September 6, 2017. Farmers from Tamil Nadu are protesting in New Delhi seeking action from the government including the write-off of bank loans and relief packages for drought affected areas.  / AFP PHOTO / SAJJAD HUSSAIN

New Delhi: The Tamil Nadu farmers, who have resorted to increasingly desperate modes of protest here for loan waiver and other demands, now say they plan to march nude and even attempt suicide. A group of farmers also claimed to have consumed human flesh. “We collected a body from a Yamuna river bank and ate its flesh at Jantar Mantar. On Sunday, we ate our own excreta... The prime minister is yet to fulfill the promises that he had made during the general elections,” a farmer told Outlook magazine. On Monday, they marched near Jantar Mantar clad in just loin cloths, demanding a Rs 40,000 crore drought relief package, insurance for their crops and the setting up of a Cauvery Management Board by the Centre. The Parliament Street Police detained around 25 farmers. Farmers leader P Ayyakkannu said, "They detained us without citing any reasons. No one has the right to stop people from protesting." "We will take out a nude procession. If our demands are not met, we will even commit suicide by slitting our throats," he threatened. A senior official from the Parliament Street Police Station said the farmers were detained after they started stripping on the protest street in Jantar Mantar where women were also demonstrating. The farmers, who have been protesting for nearly two months in their second round of agitations in the national capital, consumed human excreta to draw attention towards their issues. In their first round of protests earlier this year, they had shaved their heads and half their moustaches, held mice and snakes in their mouths, conducted mock funerals, flogged themselves and even carried skulls of other farmers who had committed suicide due to debt pressure.