Tamil Nadu: M K Stalin promises to waive farm, jewel, education loans if he wins poll

CHENNAI: DMK president M K Stalin on Wednesday promised to waive farm loans, jewel loans for less than five sovereigns and education loans of students if the DMK comes to power after the upcoming assembly election in Tamil Nadu.
Participating in Pongal festivities at Natham village in Tiruvallur district, Stalin promised to waive farm and jewel loans. Subsequently, in a separate statement offering Pongal wishes to the people of Tamil Nadu, Stalin added education loans to the party’s waiver promise.
“The DMK has always stood for the welfare of the farmers.When MGR was the chief minister and the AIADMK was in power, farmers led by Narayanasami Naidu staged an agitation in Chennai demanding reduction of electricity charges by one paisa. But the then AIADMK government did not heed to that. When the DMK came to power and Kalaignar (M Karunanidhi) became chief minister in 1989, he passed a law offering free power supply to agriculture pump sets,” Stalin said in his address at Natham village.
In the run-up to the 2006 assembly election, the DMK promised to waive cooperative loans, estimated at Rs 7,000 crore. People were sceptical how it could be done, Stalin recalled. “The first order that Kalaignar signed, soon after assuming charge as chief minister in 2006, on the stage where he was sworn in, was to waive cooperative loans to the tune of Rs 7,000 crore,” Stalin said.
The BJP government at the Centre has now enacted three farm laws, which will affect the livelihood of farmers. Hence farmers are protesting across the country. “The DMK opposed it in both houses of Parliament, while the AIADMK supported the three laws. On Tuesday, the Supreme Court stayed the farm laws. While this is only a temporary reprieve and we are not satisfied with that, when the DMK comes to power this time, we will oppose the farm laws until they are withdrawn,” Stalin said.
Further, when the DMK comes to power, the government will waive all farm loans, irrespective of the category of farmers, he said.
The DMK had promised the voters in the run-up to the 2019 LS polls that farm loans and education loans would be completely written off.