Chennai, May 26 (IANS) AIADMK General Secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami on Monday launched a sharp attack on the ruling TVK government over its recently announced crop loan waiver scheme, describing it as a “scientific fraud” and accusing the administration of misleading farmers and deviating from its election promises.

Palaniswami alleged that the government was attempting to divert public attention from what he termed deteriorating law and order conditions in Tamil Nadu.

He also accused the ruling party of concentrating on political manoeuvring and defections instead of addressing governance issues and fulfilling commitments made to the people.

Drawing a comparison with the previous AIADMK government, Palaniswami said that during his tenure as Chief Minister in 2021, the state had implemented a large-scale crop loan waiver scheme benefiting farmers across Tamil Nadu.

According to him, the AIADMK government had written off crop loans worth ₹12,110 crore availed through cooperative banks, benefiting nearly 16.43 lakh farmers.

He said the earlier decision was taken after understanding the severe financial distress faced by farmers and was aimed at providing genuine relief to the agricultural community.

Palaniswami argued that the present government had failed to honour a key election promise. He pointed out that the ruling party’s election manifesto had assured a complete waiver of crop loans obtained through cooperative banks by farmers owning less than five acres of land.

However, he claimed that the government had now altered the basis for eligibility and shifted from land ownership criteria to loan amount-based criteria, which he alleged amounted to misleading farmers.

Questioning the scale of the current scheme, Palaniswami highlighted what he described as a major difference between the two initiatives.

While the AIADMK government waived loans amounting to ₹12,110 crore in 2021, he noted that the present government had announced a waiver worth only ₹2,044 crore in 2026.

“As a farmer who has personally tilled the land, I can say that no government which deceives farmers has survived in history,” Palaniswami said.

Calling farmers the backbone of society and equal to God for providing food to people, he urged the government not to betray the farming community.

–IANS

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