DMK, allies protest against farm laws, Stalin says 'ready to go to court'

Addressing a demonstration at a village in neighbouring Kancheepuram district as part of the state-wide protest, he alleged the new laws would drive farmers away from their lands.

"Take back farm laws," "We will not rest until the farmers interests are protected," "farmers betrayed," and "farm laws lead to hoarding," were among the slogans raised during the demonstrations. The DMK-led alliance, which includes the Congress and Left parties among others, on last Monday decided to hold the state-wide agitation against the bills, passed in the recent Parliament session.

Kerala was readying to approach the Supreme Court against the laws and Tamil Nadu government should follow suit and if this does not happen, "we (DMK) as an opposition party are ready to go to court on behalf of farmers and the people," he said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had often said that he was the son of a poor mother and "this son of a poor mother is now making a large number of Indians poor" the DMK chief charged.

Attacking Chief Minister K Palaniswami, he said though the AIADMK leader took pride in calling himself a farmer, the lives of the royts have "taken a hit" only after he assumed power. Stalin, also the leader of Opposition in the assembly, alleged farmers would be driven out of their own lands and their lives shall go backward.

After consultations with allies, the next course of action like further protests against the farm laws would be decided, he said. MDMK chief Vaiko, Tamil Nadu Congress Committee president K S Alagiri, DMK leaders T R Baalu, Dayanidhi Maran were among those who took part in the protests held at separate locations.

The protest demonstrations were held in Chennai, Coimbatore, Madurai, Tiruchirappalli and Tirunelveli among other places across the state. Similar protests against the farm bills are being witnessed in several other places in the country, especially in Punjab and Haryana, with Congress and other parties alleging it was against farmers.

The Centre has maintained that the legislations, which have since received the Presidential assent, would be beneficial to the farmers as they would have freedom to choose the buyers for their produce and get remunerative price.