Criticising Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami for supporting farm laws enacted by the Central government, farmers in the district on Friday extended their support to their counterparts staging demonstrations on the State borders of New Delhi.
At a meeting here to discuss the fallout of the large-scale demonstrations, functionaries of the Thanjavur District Committee of the All India Farmers Protest Coordination Committee took exception to the supportive statement of Edappadi K. Palaniswami.
“It was absurd on the part of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister to express his views on the subject at a time when his counterparts in Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled States refrained from commenting on the laws,” functionaries of the Committee said.
Alleging that the AIADMK government had betrayed the farmers in Tamil Nadu on many issues, they said the Chief Minister’s claim that the three Farm Laws would not put the farmers in disadvantageous position was a “blatant lie.” “The Chief Minister should tender an apology to the farmers for making the misleading statement,” they demanded.
The three Farm Laws would put an end to paddy procurement exercise and wind up of the Public Distribution System, they said, apprehending that the free power supply to farming activities would also get abolished once the Electricity Amendment Bill was through.
A massive rally and a public meeting would be organised in Thanjavur on December 29 to force the Union government to withdraw the Farm Laws and urge the Tamil Nadu government to withdraw its support to the “anti-agriculturalist” laws. Meetings would be held in villages on December 20 to mourn the demise of some agriculturalists who lost their life while participating in the protest against the new Farm Laws near New Delhi, the forum said.