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More than 1,000 farmers from various districts of Tamil Nadu staged a novel protest near Samayapuram in Tiruchirappalli on Friday, demanding the complete and unconditional waiver of crop loans obtained through cooperative societies.
The farmers, who have been staging a continuous sit-in protest for the fourth consecutive day, wore flowers behind their ears and blew whistles as part of their protest, symbolically conveying their allegation that the government was putting flowers in their ears instead of fulfilling its assurances. More than 40 farmers' associations from across Tamil Nadu, along with their leaders, office-bearers and members, are participating in the agitation. The protesters have gathered under a large temporary pandal near Samayapuram and are continuing the protest both day and night. The farmers are demanding that the Tamil Nadu government implement what they describe as an election assurance made by Chief Minister Joseph Vijay regarding the waiver of farmers' loans. They are seeking a complete waiver of crop loans obtained through cooperative societies without any conditions. Speaking to reporters, farmer SR Tamilselvan of Nagapattinam said the protest was being held under the leadership of the Tamil Nadu Farmers Protection Association and with the participation of several farmers' organisations. I am S.R. Tamilselvan from the Tamil Nadu Farmers Protection Association, Nagapattinam. We have been staying here continuously for the past four days in connection with our demand for loan waiver. We have staged protests several times, but the Tamil Nadu government has been deceiving us. To convey this message, we are wearing flowers behind our ears and blowing whistles here, symbolically telling the government that it is putting flowers in our ears. Through this protest at Samayapuram, we are trying to make our demand clear to the government, he said. Tamilselvan alleged that while the Tamil Nadu government holds talks on one hand, Cooperative Department officials are conducting door-to-door recovery drives and intimidating farmers across Delta districts on the other. Instead of merely holding talks, the Tamil Nadu government should completely waive all the loans as announced by it. We have come here from the Delta region for this protest. Across the Delta districts, officials from the Cooperative Department are going door-to-door and allegedly intimidating farmers and carrying out loan recovery operations. On one side, they are holding talks with us, while on the other side, they are conducting a recovery drive and pressuring farmers to repay the loans they had taken. Therefore, the Tamil Nadu government should immediately take action and waive all the loans taken by farmers, he said. Under the terms of the Bakkiyanathan Committee, the loans are reportedly to be repaid within 60 days. The government should cancel this arrangement and immediately announce the loan waiver. Otherwise, we will not leave this place and return to Nagapattinam or the Delta districts, he added. Warning the government that protests will not be called off, he added, Until a government order announcing the loan waiver is issued, we will continue our protest at this very place, even if we are arrested any number of times. We warn the Tamil Nadu government that we will not withdraw from this protest or return to Nagapattinam and the Delta districts until the government order is issued. No matter how many police personnel are deployed to threaten or intimidate us, we will not be afraid. Tamilselvan also alleged that police personnel were preventing members of the public from voluntarily supplying food and rice to the protesting farmers. He further criticised the government over the release of water for agriculture, alleging that substantial expenditure had been incurred for an event associated with the release. You cannot run a government by making reels and putting them on social media. On behalf of all these farmers associations, I want to make it clear that we will give you a major political setback in the upcoming by-election, he said. The farmers said they would continue their sit-in at the present location until a government order announcing complete loan waiver was issued. The protestors said they were prepared to face police action and cases and reiterated that they would not withdraw from the agitation until their demand was addressed. (ANI)
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