The DMK will, on behalf of the people of the State, challenge in court the three Bills on agriculture reforms that were passed in Parliament and received Presidential assent if the Tamil Nadu government fails to do so, party president M.K. Stalin said on Monday.
Leading a State-wide protest by Opposition parties in Kancheepuram against the legislation, Mr. Stalin said both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami were wrecking the livelihoods of farmers.
“The Prime Minister calls himself the son of a poor mother. But after the poor mother’s son became Prime Minister, a lot of Indians have become poor. He is creating new poor persons every day. In Tamil Nadu, the Chief Minister calls himself a farmer but farmers lost their livelihoods after he came to power. No poor person or farmer has received any benefit from this so-called farmer,” the DMK leader said.
He said farmers across the country were protesting against the legislation. “In Punjab, Haryana, West Bengal, Karnataka, Kerala, Rajasthan and Delhi, various farmers’ organisations and political parties have been protesting against the Acts,” he noted. Due to these laws, farmers would be driven out of their land. “That’s why we are opposing them,” Mr. Stalin said, adding that the party would oppose any law that is against the welfare of the people. “Are we alone opposing [the laws]? The whole country is opposing and fighting against these [laws],” he said.
TNCC president K.S. Alagiri led the protest at Korukkupet in Chennai. The CPI(M) held a protest at Valluvar Kottam in the city. MDMK leader Vaiko led a demonstration on the outskirts of Chennai. The DMK and its alliance partners staged protests across Tamil Nadu, including in Coimbatore, Tiruppur and Erode, and nearly 150 areas in the eight districts of the Central region, over 50 places in Salem and 40 places in Namakkal.
