DMK treasurer MK Stalin, who reportedly played a crucial role in breaking away from the Congress alliance, has been completely silent on the UPA government on a host of national and local issues, during his entire campaign in the four districts of southern Tamil Nadu.
While in most of his speeches in different pockets like Nagercoil, Palayamkottai, Tenkasi, Thoothukudi, Tiruchendur, and Virudhunagar in the past week, Stalin focused only on development issues initiated during the DMK rule and conveniently skipped key topics like Tamil Eelam, Sri Lankan Navy’s repeated attacks on Tamil Nadu fishermen, and the release of seven convicts in former PM Rajiv Gandhi assassination case. Surprisingly, he also did not even make a passing reference to any of the national issues in his campaign talk at any place.
Lena Kumar, an activist from May 17 Movement, who closely observed the campaign of the DMK treasurer at Tirunelveli, said, “The DMK can’t criticize the Congress-led UPA government as any such attack would indirectly turn to its disadvantage. Take the case of Sri Lanka issue, the Congress government did not put much pressure on Colombo to resolve the Tamil question even after five years of war. Similarly, the Centre did not act seriously to prevent repeated attacks on Tamil Nadu fishermen by the island nation navy. The Centre also strongly opposed the release of seven Tamil prisoners in the former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi assassination case.”