TN: Farmers’ protest restarts after AIADMK’s ‘insensitive’ suicide remark in SC

The farmers of Tamil Nadu slammed the state government for telling the Supreme Court that no farmer committed suicide due to drought.

Chennai, April 29: A day after the ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam government in Tamil Nadu told the Supreme Court that farmers in the state did not commit suicide due to drought, but personal reasons, angry farmers protested on Saturday.

The apex court was hearing a petition on drought and farmer suicides in the state, which alleges that there were 82 farmer suicides in Tamil Nadu.

During one of the protest rallies on Saturday, farmers in Thanjavur delta burnt the effigy of Chief Minister Edapadi K Palaniswami, stated media reports. They were also seen waiving black flags against the government.

In fact, just a few days ago, farmers of the state decided to end their 45-day-long strike at Jantar Mantar in Delhi, after Palaniswami met and assured them that he would tell Prime Minister Narendra Modi about their grievances and help them to get loan waived.

In fact, the Palaniswami government declared the state to be drought hit in January. According to reports more than 140 farmers committed suicide in the state since October last year.

A National Human Rights Commission report sent to TN government on January 5 mentioned that around 106 farmers committed suicide in one month. The state government also paid Rs 3 lakh each to the families of those farmers who committed suicide.

B Dhandapani, member of the Tamil Nadu Farmers Association in Nagapattinam, said, "The government telling the Supreme Court that no farmer committed suicide is a joke. Haven't they paid Rs. 3 lakh relief to families of those who died here? We condemn this."

OneIndia News