The two bills -- Farmer's Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020, and the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020 -- were passed by Lok Sabha on Thursday.
As of now, there is nothing to suggest that the 'Michaelpatti episode' has the potential to polarise Dravidian Tamil Nadu on religious lines, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
DMK working president M K Stalin led a protest in Chennai and sought promulgation of an ordinance to allow holding the sport.
With almost all opposition parties too backing the 'Bharat bandh' and many announcing parallel protests in support of the farmers, the Centre has issued an advisory directing the states and Union Territories to tighten security and ensure peace is maintained.
Opposition parties on Tuesday asked the government to call an all-party meeting to resolve the current impasse in Parliament, while sticking to their demands for a discussion on Pegasus snooping issue and a Supreme Court-monitored probe into the matter.
When Vijila Sathyanath (AIADMK) rose to speak on her zero hour mention, DMK members, led by Tiruchi Siva and Kanimozhi, objected to it, saying she should not be allowed to raise the matter as their notices on the same issue were disallowed earlier.
On his first visit to Tamil Nadu after retaining power in this year's Lok Sabha polls, the prime minister reiterated his campaign against single-use plastic.
'If you impose Hindi, not just Tamil Nadu, no southern state will accept that. Many states in northern parts will also not accept that'
'In the hands of a majoritarian government, with utter contempt for the cultural plurality and diversity of our great nation, the pipe dream of making Hindi the sole official language takes on nightmarish proportions.'
If the Congress lost in Tamil Nadu in 1967, never to return, or the DMK and the AIADMK have kept their place in power and electoral politics since then, it owes not to their love or hatred for gods or for one religion over another. Instead, they had always been linked to performance and incumbency/anti-incumbency factors. There may be something in such constructs for Rajini's strategic team to consider, especially if the superstar is to enter direct politics by around this time next year. But then, they would need to brush up their homework more than at present, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Glimpses of the CWC meeting, which was meant to formulate a plan to revive the party from the death throes of electoral irrelevance, but...
India was an 'excellent feast' and that such imposition would lead to 'nausea', he said.
With election campaign ending in Tamil Nadu before it goes to polls on Thursday, N Sathiya Moorthy lists a few questions uppermost in the minds of voters.
The Supreme Court said no coercive steps, including Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar's arrest, will take place during the course of the investigation.
The Sensex and the Nifty reached an intra-day low of 18,939 levels and 5,724 mark, respectively.
Protester Sasi Perumal's death has given a new fillip to the pro-prohibition movement, which was beginning to draw attention across Tamil Nadu after different political parties began to make it a part of their poll manifesto for next year, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Once the Covid crisis subsides in the state, the NEET exam this year, whether conducted or cancelled, could become an electoral issue next year, along with the BC-MBC reservations issue, especially the 'creamy layer' aspect, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
In the midst of huge job losses as a fallout of the coronavirus pandemic, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami has signed 17 MoUs for an investment of Rs 15,100 crores that aim to provide 47,100 jobs. But a clearer picture on where the projects stand will emerge only after the Covid-19 induced fear psychosis ends, to see if popular protests will derail them like they have done so many others, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Union ministers and opposition parties' leaders have condemned the assault on students and teachers of Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University.
Rajini's call may now force other political parties, including the DMK and the Congress, who are in alliance talks already, to come up with water proposals of their own in their poll manifesto. In a way, this may be a 'tactical victory' for Rajinikanth, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
The CBI has began the probe on the request of the Tamil Nadu government on March 12.
The chief minister skipped meals and remained awake the entire night on a makeshift dais along with some senior ministers and party members.
Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury raised the Karnataka issue and accused the ruling party of 'poaching' its MLAs in the state.
Additional security was on Friday 'restored' at the Madurai house of Union Chemicals and Fertilisers Minister M K Alagiri, a day after the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam strongly protested the withdrawal of police personnel.
'I expect normalcy to return in one or two days,' says Tuticorin's new Collector Sandeep Nandur.
Soon after the Karnataka high court denied bail for Jayalalithaa, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister O Paneerselvam on Tuesday appealed to people not to resort to strike or any other form of protest to express solidarity with the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief as she would not like to cause inconvenience to the common man.
P Balakrishna Reddy was sentenced Reddy to three years rigorous imprisonment in a two-decade old riot case related to a protest against illicit liquor in Hosur.
'These protests are not just about the CAA. It is against allowing fascism and religious discrimination to creep into our legal system.'
The Payment of Gratuity (Amendment) Bill and The Specific Relief (Amendment) Bill passed amid din.
Rajinikanth said he stood by his comments made on Periyar, maintaining that they were factual and refused to apologise as demanded by fringe Dravidian outfits. DMK chief advised him to exercise caution while expressing views on Periyar.
The Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagham leader is set to embark on a series of protests covering the Cauvery basin regions of Tamil Nadu beginning Saturday.
The BJP calculates that simultaneous polls to Parliament and TN assembly could help it, intent as it is on making the state break from its Dravidian past, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Marumalarchi Dravida Munntera Kazhagam General Secretary Vaiko on Friday said repeated attacks on Indian fishermen, allegedly by the Sri Lankan Navy, has made the livelihood of over one crore fishermen in Tamil Nadu quite uncertain.
"Storm of lies becomes so big at times that even day appears to be night but the Sun does not lose its light. People should not be swayed by this storm. Truth is that I did not tolerate insult to Udham Singh yesterday," the Bhopal MP tweeted.
Mani Ratnam is experimenting with a real-life historical in Ponniyin Selvan, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
While nearly 200 members were present in the Lok Sabha chamber, a little over 30 were seated in the visitors' gallery located above the main chamber.
A Dravidian outfit has alleged that Rajinikanth uttered a 'blatant lie' that the images of Lord Ram and Sita were taken nude in a rally held by Periyar as part of superstition eradication conference in 1971 at Salem.
DMK blamed the Centre and state government for 'not taking appropriate, timely steps' to ensure conduct of the event and announced a state-wide stir.
Taking a veiled swipe at the Congress party, he said one of the things he found when he came to Delhi was that those who got opportunity to rule the nation for "many, many years, loved to keep things in a pendulum mode".
Flowing from an inadequate understanding of Tamil history and politics is an urban elitist mindset that does not seem to be able to touch and feel the real angst of the larger Tamil-speaking masses, cutting across the social and economic status of the individual, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
