Leader of the Opposition and AIADMK co-coordinator Edappadi K. Palaniswami on Wednesday accused the DMK government of having “let down” about 35 lakh people who had taken jewel loans from cooperative institutions.
Clarifying that his party walked out of the Assembly during the Governor’s address as a mark of protest, Mr. Palaniswami told journalists at Kalaivanar Arangam, the venue of the Assembly, that even during the 2019 Lok Sabha election, the DMK chief and then Leader of the Opposition, M.K. Stalin, gave the electors an “enticing promise” of waiver of loans taken from the cooperative banks and the nationalised banks against jewels of up to five sovereigns.
In its manifesto for the 2021 Assembly election, the DMK repeated the promise. But several conditions were imposed, and out of 48 lakh loanees, around 35 lakhs were rendered ineligible now. “Had the party mentioned in its manifesto that it would implement the scheme subject to certain conditions, the 35 lakh persons would not have been cheated,” he contended.
Expressing sadness over the police becoming a “puppet” of the ruling party, the former Chief Minister alleged AIADMK volunteers were being detained unlawfully. False cases were filed against former Ministers and office-bearers, including those from the party’s information technology wing. Criticising the government for having allowed law and order to deteriorate, he blamed it for not tackling the flooding in Chennai effectively.
Pointing out that the AIADMK government provided ₹2,500 in cash support and other gifts to the ration card-holders for the 2021 Pongal festival, Mr. Palaniswami faulted the government for not making a similar announcement. To a question on the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test, he reiterated his party’s opposition to it.
In a statement, Mr. Panneerselvam came down heavily on the DMK government on the issue of vaccination, arguing that it had “suppressed” the facts, in the Governor’s address, about the circumstances surrounding the status of the drive when his party was in power. When the drive rolled out on January 16, 2021, the AIADMK government was left with only three-and-a-half months before the Assembly election, and the model code was in force for over two months. Besides, the DMK and its allies had undertaken a “mischievous campaign” against vaccination and there was reluctance among people to get themselves vaccinated.
Likewise, it was “ridiculous” to portray the payment of compensation of ₹50,000 each to the legal heirs of the COVID-19 victims as an “achievement” because this was done at the instance of the Supreme Court. The compensation of ₹6,038 per hectare for rain-affected farmers for purchase of inputs to facilitate re-plantation remained a mere “announcement”. The address was silent on Kerala’s withdrawal of permission to cut trees at the site of the Mullaperiyar dam and on Katchatheevu, an islet in the Palk Bay region, which became part of Sri Lanka following the bilateral treaties in the 1970s.
Besides, the early release of the seven convicts in the the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, the reversion to the monthly billing cycle for power consumption, waiver of educational loans, the provision of additional quantity of sugar and ‘urad’ dal at fair price shops and the launch of a scheme to give ₹1,000 each to women had not been covered in the address, he said.
