CHENNAI: Charging that divisive forces are unable to stomach the achievements of the DMK government through the HR&CE department, Chief Minister M K Stalin on Wednesday asserted that he would, however, continue serving the people, unmindful of such malicious propaganda, as per the saying of Tamil saint Thirunavukkarasar, “my duty is to serve”.
Stating that those who masquerade in the name of devotion cannot digest what the HR&CE department is doing, the CM said, “However, genuine devotees are hailing our service to spirituality.”
Presiding over a wedding of 32 couples conducted by the department in Chennai on Wednesday as part of 576 such weddings organised across the state on the same day, for couples hailing from economically-disadvantaged backgrounds, Stalin referred to a cartoon that recently appeared in a weekly magazine, showing Stalin and his cabinet colleagues in a poor light, with the intent of ridiculing their allegedly insincere attempts to look being favourable to the Hindu religion.
“The cartoon did not evoke humour in me, but only pity,” he said, adding that if their (those running the magazine) objective was spirituality, they could have listed the present government’s contribution in that area.
Alleging that the malice they have harboured for long was the true objective, Stalin said, such cartoons were outlets to vent out such malice. He said he has never worried about such slander and in fact took them as further motivation.
Heaping praise on Minister P K Sekarbabu for the HR&CE department’s achievements, the CM said the department has so far organised marriages for 2,376 couples. He further said the present government has conducted consecrations of a record number of 3,177 temples, besides retrieving 7,655 acres of land belonging to 997 temples worth Rs 7,701 crore.
A release said that the department would conduct weddings for 1,000 couples this year as announced in the budget and offer every couple Rs 70,000 worth gifts, which included a thaali made of four grams of gold, LPG stove, wet grinder, mixer grinder, kitchen utensils and pooja items.
‘Cartoon evokes no humour in me, only pity’
“The cartoon did not evoke humour in me, but only pity,” he said, adding that if their (those running the magazine) objective was spirituality, they could have listed the present state government’s contribution in that area