CHENNAI: Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman and chief minister MK Stalin traded barbs over the finance ministry’s communication to states on reviewing crop bonus policies.Hours after Stalin challenged her to make the letter public, Sitharaman released it on social media, accusing him of “distorting” its contents. Stalin responded swiftly, claiming that her statement had in fact exposed “her falsehood”. In a social media post, Sitharaman said building food security requires constructive, continuous and positive engagement with all stakeholders. “However, Stalin appears to persist with what he and his party are known for — drawing a wedge between Center and states, creating false narratives and projecting themselves as protectors of farmers and Tamil people,” she said.The row stemmed from a Jan 9 letter from the Union finance ministry to the TN chief secretary, urging the state to review its existing bonus policy and consider discontinuing incentives for wheat and paddy, while shifting focus towards pulses, oilseeds and millets.At an election campaign on April 10, Stalin alleged that the Union govt viewed TN’s rising rice production as ‘troublesome’ and the letter was a fallout of its attempt to arrest the increase in production. He then dared Sitharaman to release the letter.Refuting the charge, Sitharaman said the idea behind the letter was only to encourage production of pulses and oilseeds. “Doesn’t he know that huge imports of palm oil are because our demand for edible oil is not adequately met with oil seeds supply. Similar is the issue with pulses. Farmers can get better prices for crops in which there is a supply-demand gap,” she said. “But farmers’ interest is not in CM Stalin’s mind,” she said.The FM said most of the state govts across party lines understood this and responded in the spirit of cooperative federalism and only Stalin chose to sensationalise it.“True food sovereignty is only possible when Center and states work together to replace water-intensive surpluses with the essential crops India actually needs,” she said.Stalin issued a rebuttal to Sitharaman, alleging that her long explanation has only ‘exposed her falsehood’. “It is clearly stated that since the state’s additional bonus for paddy has led to bumper production, the state government should consider discontinuing the bonus,” Stalin said.The CM said Sitharaman’s claim that most of the state govts have agreed to the finance ministry’s letter was a “blatant lie” and shared a tweet by Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan. In the Feb 8 tweet, Vijayan said, “Union govt’s demand to scrap Kerala’s Rs 6.31 per kilogram paddy bonus labeling food production a liability is an affront to the farmers.”
