CHENNAI: The remarks by DMK leaders like MP A Raja during the party’s statewide protest on Friday came in for condemnation by ministers and TVK leaders.
HR&CE Minister S Ramesh accused the DMK of treating obscenity, defamatory remarks, abusive language and threats as political weapons. Referring to P K Sekar Babu, Ramesh said it was particularly shameful for a former HR&CE minister to forget the dignity of the office he had held and resort to abusive remarks and threats against political opponents and the general public.
Stooping to the same level of abusive politics was not their culture, Ramesh said, adding that Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay had not brought them up that way. He, however, warned that every action would have a reaction and urged the DMK to choose its words carefully.
Political parties must be prepared to face criticism, he said, but those who mistook abuse and threats for politics would have to face the consequences in the political arena, he remarked.
Loyola Mani, chairman of the Tamil Nadu Textbook and Educational Services Corporation, questioned whether the conduct of the DMK leaders on Saturday represented the party’s politics and whether this was what its founder, C N Annadurai, had taught them.
The DMK has lost the moral right to invoke Annadurai’s name, he said, adding that the people who have been watching everything would teach the DMK another befitting lesson in the upcoming Assembly by-elections. Ministers K Jagadeshwari (social welfare and women empowerment) and S Keerthana (Industries) also issued statements on the same lines.
Meanwhile, TNCC president B Manickam Tagore, in a statement, said the DMK’s inability to accept the people’s verdict and respond maturely to opposing views was evident in its repeated attacks on women. He also condemned the comments allegedly targeting Minister
C T R Nirmal Kumar’s mother, saying that such indecent politics had no place in a democracy.