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Modi says winds of Bihar arrived in TN before him
PM Modi, in Tamil Nadu, praised farmers' natural farming efforts and linked their support to the NDA's Bihar win, amid local political tensions and metro project disputes.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday in Tamil Nadu said that the sight of farmers greeting him by waving their towels over their heads in Coimbatore district made him feel as though the “winds of Bihar have arrived in Tamil Nadu before him” referring to the National Democratic Alliance’s (NDA) landslide win in Bihar. Tamil Nadu faces assembly elections next year and Modi’s arrival comes amid the ruling DMK coalition opposing the on-going special intensive revision (SIR) in the state which they describe as a conspiracy of the BJP.
“When I came on the stage here, I saw several farmers waving their gamchha (towel) in the air. I felt as if Bihar’s breeze reached here even before I could,” Modi said while inaugurating the South India Natural Farming Summit 2025 in Coimbatore. He also released the 21st instalment of PM-Kisan Samman Nidhi of more than ₹18,000 crore that were directly transferred to the bank accounts of 9 crore beneficiaries across the country. On stage, Modi was flanked by governor R N Ravi and senior BJP leaders.
Modi’s speech however was less on politics and more on the expansion of natural farming which he said is the need of the 21st century. “Natural farming helps us face climate change. It can keep our soil healthy, and with this, people can be protected from harmful chemicals. This event will play a major role in this direction,” Modi said.
Due to the rise in demand in the last few years, usage of chemicals has increased in farms and several agricultural sectors, he said and recognised that farmers in south Indian states have adopted traditions in natural farming to keep the soil healthy and the crops chemical-free bringing down the input cost.
“In the years to come, I can see several major transformations taking place in India’s agriculture. India is on the path to becoming a global hub for natural farming,” Modi said. “Our biodiversity is taking a new shape, the youth of the country are seeing agriculture as a modern, scalable opportunity. This will give a major boost to the rural economy of the country.”
Modi said several farmers in the summit shared their stories with him. “Someone had pursued Mechanical Engineering and was later doing farming, someone was doing farming after leaving NASA. They are training several youth,” Modi said. “Had I not come here to this event, I would have missed a lot in my life. I salute the courage of farmers of Tamil Nadu to accept change.”
Opposition leader and AIADMK general secretary Edappadi Palaniswami who is in alliance with the BJP received the Prime Minister at the Coimbatore airport and submitted a memorandum seeking the expedition of metro rails projects in Coimbatore and Madurai.
The two projects had been causing a political stir since Wednesday morning after chief minister M K Stalin accused the BJP-led Union government of blocking Metro rail projects for Coimbatore and Madurai out of political bias.
“A government exists to serve people without bias. Yet the Union BJP treats Tamil Nadu’s democratic choice as a reason to take revenge,” Stalin said. “Pushing such a political custom, in which BJP ruled states get Metros for smaller Tier II cities while opposition ruled States are deprived, is a disgraceful approach.”
In reaction state BJP leaders said that the DMK’s attack was misleading. “The Centre returned the DPRs based on the 2017 Metro Policy, which uses 2011 city-proper population. Coimbatore’s figure fell below the 20 lakh threshold as per that rule,” said Vanathi Srinivasan, national president, BJP’s Mahila Morcha and MLA of Coimbatore south. “TN has received ₹1.5 lakh crore in rail funds under NDA—hardly the sign of any anti-Tamil Nadu agenda.” She added that TN can resubmit using urban agglomeration data (Coimbatore UA is 21+ lakh) or give special justification—just like Agra Metro was approved for tourism. “Similar precedents exist for Bhopal and Patna,” the BJP leader said.
