Ponnusamy Ayyakannu[1] is an activist, lawyer and farmer and the chief of the Desiya Thenidhiya Nathigal Inaippu Vivasayigal Sangam.
[2][3][4] He led the 2017 Tamil Nadu farmers' protest against the central government at New Delhi, demanding the agricultural loan in cooperative banks to be waived off.
[7] On April 8, 2019, he announced that he is not going to contest after a meeting with Amit Shah and Piyush Goyal the previous day.
He later left the Bharatiya Kisan Sangh and formed his own farmers organization called the Desiya Thenidhiya Nathigal Inaippu Vivasayigal Sangam (National South Indian River Interlinking Agriculturalists Association).
[13] Ayyakannu responded by speaking to the media that Raja might even call them Pakistani terrorists if they continue to protest.