PUDUKKOTTAI/SIVAGANGA: Continuing his tirade against the AIADMK-BJP combine, Chief Minister M K Stalin on Saturday accused the Dravidian major of aligning with the saffron party and betraying Tamil Nadu’s interests. The CM was campaigning for DMK and alliance candidates in Pudukkottai.
“The AIADMK, along with the BJP, has betrayed Tamil Nadu,” Stalin said, alleging that AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami has failed to raise key issues concerning the state. Stalin claimed that the BJP-led union government leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, have consistently pushed the three-language policy in Tamil Nadu, but Palaniswami has never questioned it.
The DMK president asserted that the state would not accept the imposition of Hindi even if ₹10,000 crore were offered. Criticising union ministers such as Piyush Goyal and Dharmendra Pradhan, the CM alleged that attempts are being made to “saffronise” education. The union government has also failed to release ₹2,000 crore in dues to Tamil Nadu, he added. Stalin also questioned why Palaniswami has not raised concerns over higher budget allocations for Sanskrit compared to Tamil.
Accusing EPS of supporting legislation such as the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the Waqf Board amendment, Stalin said it amounted to betrayal of minorities.
On NEET, he said the DMK and the INDIA bloc, along with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, have assured its abolition if voted to power and questioned whether EPS has ever urged the union government to scrap the exam. Pointing to the rising prices of LPG and its demand, the CM said, “People are asking Modi ji – where is LPG? Many small businesses are shut, and people are struggling and running out of gas.”
Stalin introduced Thirumayam DMK candidate S Regupathy, Alangudi candidate Siva Meyyanathan, Pudukkottai constituency candidate Muthuraja, Viralimalai candidate K K Chellapandian, alliance partner CPM’s Gandarvakottai candidate M Chinnadurai and Congress’s Aranthangi candidate T Ramachandran at the campaign event. Later in the evening, while canvassing for his party and its alliance candidates for the four Assembly seats in the Sivaganga district, the CM hit out at PM Modi and Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis, saying that they had visited Thiruparankundram and Madurai, respectively, but did not go to Keezhadi, which is the Tamilar Thai Madi (Tamil people’s mother lap). He questioned the reason for delaying the release of the Keezhadi report.
Rebutting charges of poor law and order in TN by BJP leaders from other states during campaigning, the CM said his government has never spared anyone involved in offences.
“What if I mentioned the status of law and order in the BJP-ruled states? In UP, a four-year-old girl was sexually assaulted and murdered in Ghaziabad. The parents were beaten black and blue by police without even accepting the complaint. The Supreme Court had condemned the incident and summoned the authorities to appear before it,” he said, adding that no one can forget the Hathras gang rape and murder of a teenage girl or the rally by a BJP minister in favour of the rape accused in Kashmir.
In the states ruled by the BJP, they celebrate the accused, and yet they speak about the law and order situation in TN, the CM said.
Though Minister Goyal was aware of TN’s development, he lied by saying the state is not growing, Stalin said. The CM said that Palaniswami can’t boast of any achievements during his regime; that’s why he is resorting to personal attacks. In fact, law and order had completely broken down during the EPS regime, he claimed, adding that, on the other hand, under the DMK rule, anyone committing an offence or crime – be it a policeman or a politician – is brought to book.