CHENNAI: The centre has been deliberately insulting Tamil Nadu and “Periyar” EV Ramasamy, said Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin on Thursday.
Responding to a query regarding Union Finance Minister Niramala Sitharaman’s remark on Periyar, Udhayanidhi said, “It is the Union government’s pattern to insult TN and Periyar. They are doing this as per their political ideology.”
When asked by the media about the insulting remark made by Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan towards Tamil Nadu MPs, which he later withdrew and was expunged from official parliamentary records, Udhayanidhi threw the question back, “Are we uncivilised? Do we look like that?”
The people of Tamil Nadu will give a fitting reply to them when they get the opportunity, he added.
On BJP state president K Annamalai’s claim that the DMK was raising the three-language issue to divert the attention of the people from the Enforcement Directorate (ED) investigation into alleged liquor sale scam, Udhayanidhi said, “The three-language issue has been going on for the past 20 days.
For the past few months, there had been an exchange of correspondence between the state and the Union government. We did not accept their MoU (for PM Shri Schools) and constituted a committee to look into it. We have been protesting, demanding state’s educational funds for the past three months. They are resorting to diversionary tactics.”
On delimitation, he said, “A Joint Action Committee meeting has been called by our leader (CM MK Stalin) on March 22. Many leaders of various states have been invited. After that, the CM will announce the next course of action.”