AIADMK Chief Edappadi K Palaniswami on Tuesday lashed out at the TVK government over the crop loan waiver announcement, calling it a "scientific deception" to distract the people from "horse-trading" politics allegedly being indulged.
He accused the newly formed government under C Joseph Vijay of "idling away time" to divert the people of Tamil Nadu from "watching the most disgusting politics of horse-trading." Reacting to the chief minister's announcement on Monday, regarding waiver of cooperative bank crop loans up to ₹50,000 for marginal farmers across the state, the AIADMK general secretary said the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam had promised total waiver of crop loans for all farmers having up to 5 acres of land. Shifting the criteria from land size to a monetary cap of ₹50,000 was a "major betrayal of trust", the former chief minister claimed.
Comparing the sum provided during the previous AIADMK regime under him, Palaniswami said the then AIADMK government had completely waived ₹12,110 crore in farm loans, which provided relief to over 16.43 lakh farmers without any complex restrictions.
"The dummy horse government, which is functioning as described in the Tamil proverb meaning 'my husband has also gone to the concert,' (doing something to show off without real interest in it) has staged a scientific fraud in the name of waiving agricultural crop loans. This was announced to divert the people of Tamil Nadu from the most disgusting politics of horse-trading, which is being done frivolously without attending to the work that a government should be doing," Palaniswami said in the statement.
The TVK promised to completely waive off the cooperative bank crop loans taken by farmers with less than 5 acres of land but now was using money as the criterion instead of land. "If you see that in 2021 we waived off loans worth Rs 12,110 crore and now they are saying that they will waive off loans worth only Rs 2,044 crore in 2026, the farmers will understand that its big deception. As a farmer, I say history shows that no government that cheated farmers ever lasted. A farmer is like a god who feeds. Don’t cheat them," Palaniswami said in a statement.
He asked the state government to fully implement its original poll assurance and help the farmers.
Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay on Monday announced a waiver of cooperative bank crop loans of up to ₹50,000 availed by marginal farmers across the state and up to ₹5,000 to large farmers availed from May 1, 2025, to February 28, 2026. The gesture would benefit 14.22 lakh farmers in the state and would entail an additional expenditure of ₹2,044 crore to the government, he said.
The government announced a 50 per cent waiver for small farmers, too.
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 reduce 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 should announce more comprehensive relief schemes for farmers from all walks of life who are affected by continuous natural disasters, rising production costs, and inadequate prices for their produce," he said in a statement.
Also, steps should be taken to ensure that all farmers get the necessary seeds, fertilisers and inputs at subsidised prices through cooperative societies. Farmers who have received crop loan waivers should be provided with new loans through cooperative societies so that they can continue to carry out agricultural work, he added.
"There should be no administrative hurdles. It is the primary responsibility of the government to protect all farmers and improve their livelihood. Good schemes for this should be implemented continuously to benefit farmers," he said.
Published on May 26, 2026