CHENNAI, AIADMK president Edappadi K Palaniswami on Tuesday slammed the TVK government over its crop loan waiver announcement, calling it a “scientific hoax” to distract people from the “horse-trading” politics in which it is allegedly indulging.
He accused the newly formed government led by C Joseph Vijay of “wasting time” to divert the people of Tamil Nadu from “observing the most disgusting policy of horse trading”.
In response to the Prime Minister’s announcement on Monday regarding waiver of crop loans from cooperative banks even $The Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam has promised complete waiver of crop loans to all farmers having up to 5 acres of land, the AIADMK 50,000 general secretary told marginal farmers across the state. Convert criteria from land size to cash maximum $The former prime minister claimed the $50,000 was a “major betrayal of trust.”
Comparing the amount provided during the previous AIADMK regime during his reign, Palaniswami said that the then AIADMK government had completely compromised $12,110 crore farm loans, which provided relief to over 16.43 lakh farmers without any complex restrictions.
“The phantom horse government, acting as described in the Tamil proverb which means ‘My husband also went to the concert’, has carried out a scientific fraud in the name of waiver of agricultural crop loans. This was announced to divert the people of Tamil Nadu from the most disgusting policy of horse trading, which is done frivolously without caring about the work that should be done by the government,” Palaniswami said in the statement.
TVK promised to completely waive crop loans from the Cooperative Bank taken by farmers with less than 5 acres of land, but now they are using money as a benchmark instead of land. “If you see that in 2021 we waived the value of loans $12,110 crore and now they are saying they will waive only loans of value $2,044 crore in 2026, farmers will understand that this is a big deception. As a farmer, I say that history shows that no government has ever cheated farmers. The farmer is like a god who feeds. “Don’t cheat them,” Palaniswami said in a statement.
He asked the state government to fully implement the original election guarantee and help the farmers.
Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay on Monday announced a waiver of cooperative bank crop loans of up to $50,000 benefited marginal farmers across the state and up to $5,000 to large farmers have been availed from May 1, 2025 to February 28, 2026. This gesture will benefit 14.22 lakh farmers in the state and will entail an additional outlay of $Rs 2,044 crore to the government, he said.
The government has announced a 50 per cent exemption for small farmers as well.
Meanwhile, PMK founder Dr S Ramadoss hailed the announcement and said the government should also look into the condition of other farmers.
“Although this announcement will not completely ease the burden of all farmers, it should be seen as an attempt to provide hope and support to farmers in the current economic situation. The government must announce more comprehensive relief plans for farmers from all walks of life who are affected by ongoing natural disasters, rising production costs, and inadequate prices for their produce,” he said in a statement.
Steps should also be taken to ensure that all farmers have access to seeds, fertilizers and necessary inputs at subsidized prices through cooperative societies. He added that farmers who received crop loan waivers should be provided with new loans through cooperative societies so that they can continue to do agricultural work.
“There should be no administrative hurdles. The government’s primary responsibility is to protect all farmers and improve their livelihoods. Good schemes for this should be implemented continuously for the benefit of farmers,” he said.
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