Farmers from more than forty associations continued their sit-in near Samayapuram for a third day on Thursday, refusing to accept the State’s conditional crop loan waiver. The demonstrators stated that Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay’s government broke a campaign promise by attaching caveats that undermine the pledged relief. Tuesday’s talks involving ministers and the Deputy Speaker failed to resolve the protest, although organisers were told an announcement regarding a fuller waiver might be made within a week.
The protesters are demanding an unconditional blanket write-off, an extension of covered dues through March 31 instead of the narrow May 2025 to February 2026 loan window, and the halting of cooperative society recovery cases. They also want interest and penal interest waived for defaulters, while rejecting rules that limit relief to one member per family or exclude families of cooperative directors. Organisers stated they will not withdraw until the written conditions are dropped and an unconditional package is published.
Police initially denied permission for a pandal, forcing the farmers to sit in the open heat using palm fronds for shade before a canopy was later permitted. The agitation serves as an early stress test for the new TVK administration, which took office promising sweeping rural relief following fifteen years of repeated losses, high production costs, and unremunerative support prices for cultivators.