The AIADMK co-coordinator, Edappadi K.Palaniswami, owed an apology to the farming community for supporting the three contentious farm laws and deriding farmers who had fought against the now repealed legislation, DMK president and Chief Minister M.K. Stalin said in Thanjavur on Tuesday.
Mr. Palaniswami, who claims to be a farmer, had betrayed the interests of the farming community of not only Tamil Nadu but the entire country by supporting the laws, Mr. Stalin alleged.
“We strongly opposed the laws for being anti-farmer and pro-corporate. But Mr. Palaniswami claimed farmers would stand to benefit from the laws and even called farmers fighting against the laws as brokers. Now that the Prime Minister has been forced to backtrack and repeal the laws, Mr. Palaniswami should tender an apology to the farmers,” Mr. Stalin said, addressing a virtual campaign meet ahead of the urban local bodies elections in Thanjavur.
According to him, the former Chief Minister had also betrayed the interests of farmers by failing to oppose the reduction in the quantum of Tamil Nadu’s share of Cauvery water and the move to construct a dam across Mekedatu by Karnataka, supporting the eight-lane expressway project in the State and indulging in corrupt practices in de-silting and other schemes. Mr. Palaniswami did not question the constitution of a “toothless” Cauvery Water Management Authority or the Centre’s move to bring it under the Union Ministry of Jal Sakthi, Mr. Stalin charged.
The DMK, Mr.Stalin contended, is the only movement that was and is in the forefront at protecting the rights of farmers of the State on the Cauvery issue. Tracing the “long struggle” of the party and the former Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi to uphold the State’s rights rights on the Cauvery issue, Mr. Stalin assured the farmers that he would stand by them not only as the Chief Minister but also as the son of Karunanidhi.
The DMK government has brought out a separate Budget for agriculture. The area of cultivation in the State had gone up substantially thanks to the steps taken by the government such as release of water from the Mettur Dam on the stipulated date of June 12, de-silting of the canals to ensure waterflow to the tail end areas and sanction of kuruvai package, Mr. Stalin said and added, “Kuruvai paddy was raised on 4.9 lakh acres in the delta districts against the target of 3.5 lakh acres,” he said, describing it as an unprecedented achievement in 46 years.
The previous AIADMK government, on the other hand, had been corruption-ridden, he alleged. The former Chief Minister had been “mimicking the voice” of the BJP so much so that one might as well call him ‘BJP’ Palaniswami. Even though the voters had punished Mr. Palaniswami in the recent elections for his betrayals, he has not learnt his lessons and continues to remain a palanquin-bearer of the BJP, Mr. Stalin alleged.
Ridiculing Mr. Palaniswami for claiming that the DMK did not have the courage to take on the AIADMK, Mr. Stalin wondered whether the Leader of the Opposition had forgotten the defeats in the Lok Sabha, rural local bodies and Assembly elections, and urged the people to hand out a similar punishment to the “corruption–ridden” AIADMK yet again.
