The recent sights of Chief Minister and AIADMK co-coordinator Edappadi K. Palaniswami entering a field to plant paddy and arriving at an event on a bullock cart in Tiruvarur district appear to give the impression that he is keen on projecting a pro-farmer image.
While giving an interview to a Tamil television channel in mid-January, he drove a tractor on a paddy field in his home district of Salem, and this was to reinforce his image as an agriculturist. Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu had praised him for not forgetting his roots.
In February, he got a mega event on agriculture and agri-marketing organised in Salem and used the occasion to announce that his government will bring in a law to declare the Cauvery delta a protected agricultural zone. In no time, he deputed a delegation of Ministers, officials and other representatives to New Delhi and secured the approval of the Central government.
Shortly thereafter, the Assembly adopted a legislation banning any new hazardous projects in select regions of the delta.
In Tiruvarur, sections of farmers of the Cauvery delta bestowed the title ‘Custodian of the Cauvery’ on the CM at an event where he announced ₹170-crore schemes to be implemented through the Agriculture Department and ₹6,650-crore schemes to be carried out by the Public Works Department (PWD).
“There is no reason to see any political motive behind his actions,” said S. Semmalai, a legislator from Mettur and former Minister. “All along, he has been an agriculturist. He is only reflecting the real picture of his personality, not an imaginary [one],” he said.
P.R. Pandian, president of the Tamil Nadu Federation of All Farmers’ Associations, which also took part in the Tiruvarur event to felicitate the Chief Minister, felt that unlike his predecessors like M.G. Ramachandran, M. Karunanidhi and Jayalalithaa, Mr. Palaniswami was a “practising farmer”, and there was nothing wrong in his exhibiting his background. “He is not showing off as a farmer,” Mr. Pandian said.
A senior official said the Chief Minister's knowledge of matters concerning the dairy sector was ‘amazing’.
However, the Chief Minister does have critics among the farming community.
K.V. Ilankeeran, president of the Federation of Farmers’ Organisations in the Delta, was not impressed with Mr. Palaniswami’s attempts to reach out to the community. “If he is genuinely interested in our welfare, he would have gone for a loan waiver for all farmers, regardless of landholding size, as directed by the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court. But his government got the High Court order stayed by the Supreme Court,” he noted.
S. Venkatesan, general secretary of the Federation of Tamil Nadu and Pondy State Private Sugarmill Cane Growers’ Associations, wanted the Chief Minister to ensure that farmers were paid the minimum statutory price for paddy at regulated markets operated by the Commissionerate of Agricultural Marketing and Agri Business, and that sugar mills paid arrears of ₹500 crore to cane farmers. “Symbolic gestures are not enough. He should come out with substantive actions too,” Mr. Venkatesan added.
Though it is too early to determine whether Mr. Palaniswami will be able to reap any political dividend out of his outreach initiative, the steps he has taken in recent weeks have created an impression that he is assiduously seeking to win the support of the agriculturists who, in last three years, have taken part in a number of agitations over many issues.
