A group of farmers on Wednesday performed shavasana or the 'corpse pose' on a national highway to symbolically protest killing of farmers in Mandsaur and 'anti-farm' policies of the Modi government.
As Prime Minister Narendra Modi performed yoga in Lucknow along with the UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, the farmers under the banner of the Bhartiya Kisan Union, performed shavasana on the Lucknow-Barabanki Highway.
BKU spokesman Alok Verma said, "Hundreds of farmers performed shavasana on Lucknow-Barabaki Highway near Safedabad between 9 am to 11 am as part of our protest today."
Naresh Tikait, president of the Union, had said that farmers from all over the country will perform yoga and block highways between 9 am to 12 noon as a mark of protest.
A similar protest was organised by farmers on the Lucknow-Sitapur Highway.
BKU leaders said farmers have been hit due to the 'doublespeak' of the National Democratic Alliance government as its leaders had promised to implement the Swaminathan Commission report, 'but even after three years in power we have got no assurance'.
The farmers were also protesting the killing of farmers in police firing in MP earlier this month.
In Bhopal, Congress leaders performed shavasana to highlight farmers' plight in the state at the party's headquarters.
State Congress spokesman Pankaj Chaturvedi said the programme was organised to highlight the farmers' plight in MP.
He said their event was also to protest the killing of five cultivators in police firing in Mandsaur recently and the increasing incidents of farmers' suicides.
He said Congress leaders across the state organised such programmes.
IMAGE: Madhya Pradesh Congress president Arun Yadav led party workers perform shavasana as part of protest against the killing of farmers by police firing in Mandsaur, during the 3rd International Yoga Day at Lal Parade ground in Bhopal on Wednesday. Photograph: PTI Photo