DMK did not invite AIADMK and BJP as it holds both the party responsible for the agrarian crisis in the state while Vijayakanth led DMDK, MDMK and PMK boycott the meet
An all-party meeting convened by the DMK on Sunday has given a call for a day-long bandh in Tamil Nadu on April 25 to highlight the sufferings of farmers who are facing worst ever drought.
Apart from the DMK's allies the Congress, the Indian Union Muslim League and the Manithaneya Makkal Katchi, the meeting was attended by CPI (M), CPI and Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi in a significant political development indicating coming together of political forces that are opposed to the AIADMK government at the state and BJP government at the centre on the farmer's issue. DMK did not invite AIADMK and BJP as it holds both the party responsible for the agrarian crisis in the state while Vijayakanth led DMDK, MDMK and PMK boycott the meet.
The proposed shutdown is an attempt to urge the Centre and the state government to immediately act upon the demands of farmers and farm labourers protesting in various parts of the state and in Delhi. The Centre should treat the drought as a "national disaster" and declare Tamil Nadu "disaster-hit" in view of the unprecedented conditions, said one of the 15 resolutions adopted at the meeting chaired by DMK working President MK Stalin. The Centre should provide relief as per the law for disaster-hit people, it said.
A public meeting will be held in Chennai on April 22 to explain the need for the bandh, the resolution said.
According to another resolution, a delegation comprising leaders of political parties will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi. They will be joined by farmers staging the protest for over a month in the Capital. The meeting urged the Centre to waive loans taken by farmers from nationalised banks and help the state in writing off the cooperative loans. "The meeting resolved to ask the state government to convene a special assembly session and pass resolutions on the farmers' demands. We also resolved to prevent other states from constructing check dams on inter-state rivers," said Stalin after the meeting.
Participation of Left parties and VCK in the all-party meet has led to the speculation of them joining the DMK alliance to keep the communal BJP at bay. Tamil Nadu Congress Committee president Su Thirunavukkarasar opined that Left parties and VCK should join the DMK alliance to defeat the AIADMK and the BJP. VCK chief Thol. Thirumavalavan made it very clear that taking part in an all-party meeting for a common cause has nothing to do with the electoral alliance. Left parties have taken part in the meeting convened by DMK for the first time since 2008 when they withdrew outside support for the Congress-led UPA government over the Indo-US nuclear deal, said CPI (M) state secretariat member P. Shanmugham.
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