2 minutes reading time
What the fuck is Edappadi Palaniswami doing?
I hope history won't be nice to him. The ADMK government just passed the Tamil Nadu Regulation of Rights and Responsibilities of Landlords and Tenants Act 2017. It sounds like standard, dry administrative paperwork, but it’s a direct assault on anyone who doesn't own land.
They removed the concept of "fair rent." They stripped away the legal protections that kept landlords from raising rent arbitrarily. Now, they've made it like any other commercial contract. Two parties signing an agreement, as if a tenant looking for a roof over their head has the same bargaining power as a landlord who owns three apartment blocks.
It’s a complete shift of power.
And why now? Because gentrification is accelerating. The cities are expanding, tech hubs are cropping up, and the poor are being squeezed out of their own neighborhoods. Instead of protecting them, the state is actively helping the landlords clear them out.
Udumalai K. Radhakrishnan, the Minister of Housing and Urban Development, that Udumalai bastard, what the hell is he thinking? You look at these politicians and you realize they don't see housing as a basic human necessity. They see it as an asset class. They see it as a way to keep their builder lobbies happy. Or maybe, Palanisamy thinks Koundans own the house, so this is good for their voter base.
If you remove the caps, the market doesn't magically balance itself. The landlord just keeps jumping the rent because they know someone else, some corporate migrant, will pay it.
I’m sitting in my room, reading the bill, and my blood pressure is spiking. They're codifying displacement, and everyone is treating it like progress.
It’s disgusting.