THE SKULL
PROTEST: HOW THE FARMERS IN DELHI MANAGED TO GET THE MEDIA'S ATTENTION
We
are all aware that a group of about 100 farmers from Tamil Nadu have been protesting
in Delhi for a month now, to get the government
to meet their various demands, which include a Rs 40,000 central drought relief
fund and pensions for old farmers who can no longer tend to their fields.
In its essence it is the longest continuous demonstration in recent times and
is organized under the protection of police and the consent of the state. It is
contained and unlikely to descend into chaos, One thing that cannot go
unnoticed is the extent to which these people are ready to go, to capture the
media and the public's attention- the agitators
are , however, well aware that their protest has to be suitably dramatic for
media consumption.
The leader, P Ayyakannu sets the
benchmark by chanting “If they put us on the train back to Tamil Nadu, we will
pull the chain. If they beat us, we will jump off the train. We will stay here
till our demands are met or we die.” That's just the beginning. They have come
heavily prepared with props, skulls and mice and snakes, and have been pulling
off one desperate act after another, almost daily. The sheer amount of
theatricality and drama ranges from bizarre to spine chillingly shocking. The
farmers started off with eating dal and rice off the streets. Then they moved
on to perform angapradakshinam –
rolling prostrate- on the street at Jantar Mantar . Things began to heat up
when they staged suicides and conducted mock funerals. In the next act, they
shaved off half their moustaches and beards. This still got no attention, they
went extreme and stripped in front of the Prime Minister’s office, standing
with mice in their mouths. And finally, things took a rather scary turn when
they s hung human skulls around their necks, which they claim belong to farmers
in their state who committed suicide because of mounting debt.
But we don't
understand this- is the media just covering the drama and sensation? Has the
original cause for protest been forgotten? As days pass and things are getting
more and more disturbing, the actual motive behind this event is at the risk of
being forgotten. Irrespective of whether that is indeed the case, by now, the
protest has taken on farcical proportions. The performance seems to have become
the point of it. To sum things up, a photographer from a daily newspaper who
has been covering the farmers’ protest regularly, said: “My editors don’t want
to write about the issue, they just want dramatic photographs.”. Let's hope
that this is not what's going to happen.
-Aswitha Balaji Blogger NanSei Nilam
