THOOTHUKUDI : What stopped Prime Minister Narendra Modi from recovering Katchatheevu in the past 10 years, asked senior CPM leader and former Rajya Sabha MP TK Rangarajan, while addressing a public meeting in Kovilpatti on Wednesday. Canvassing for incumbent MP Kanimozhi Karunanidhi, Rangarajan said that price rise, unemployment and maladministration were a result of 10 years of BJP rule.
“The BJP government must be wiped out. This is an appeal of the INDIA bloc,” he said, adding that the DMK has substantial ability to defeat the BJP. “Victory in 40 seats in Tamil Nadu and the Left government’s win in Kerala will substantiate the BJP’s loss,” the CPM leader said.
The BJP’s popularity is declining in the northern states, while the INDIA bloc is turning out to be a success. While over 55 countries will go for elections this year, and right-wing governments are rising across the globe, Tamil Nadu and other southern states have not encouraged such governments, he said.
“The BJP’s ulterior motive is to end democracy and annul the rights of states while also eliminating Opposition parties. The BJP is an offshoot of the ‘fascist’ RSS, which never accepted India’s Constitution, and wants to formulate a religion-based constitution. If they are voted back to power, there will be no elections anymore,” Rangarajan said.
"Has Modi thought about recovering Katchatheevu even once in the past 10 years? What restrained him from sending the Indian Army to recover it?,” asked Rangarajan.
In reply to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar's statement that the DMK had ceded the island to Sri Lanka, Rangarajan recalled that late Chief Minister Kalaignar Karunanidhi had registered his objection to handing over the island and this is still on record. "Then Parliamentarians ER Chezhian and VIT Viswanathan had condemned it vehemently. While Chezhian is no more, 86-year-old Viswanathan is still alive", he said.
"I would not be worried if Modi uttered falsities as he is a politician. Lies are also uttered in Ramayana and the Bhagavad Gita. However, it is shocking when a former foreign secretary, who is the current external affairs minister, is lying about an agreement signed 50 years ago", Rangarajan added.