CHENNAI: Groups with vested interests who are unable to digest India’s rapid development are misleading people to create unrest, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Tuesday, apparently alluding to the ongoing protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act.
Addressing an event here to mark the 50th anniversary of Thuglak magazine through video hook-up from Delhi, Modi tore into the Congress, blaming it for the current spate of agitations.
“One of the things I learnt when I first came to Delhi was that those who ruled the nation for many years, loved to keep things in ‘pendulum mode’. They create a problem and then pretend to solve it,” he quipped.
“Our government is solving problems of people that have persisted for decades in mission mode,” he said while listing out reforms such as hollowing out of Article 370, the abolition of triple talaq, and 10 per cent reservation for the economically weaker sections.
Extending his Pongal wishes to the people, Modi said a defence corridor will certainly come up in Tamil Nadu.
“It will bring industries and boost employment for local youth,” he said, adding: “In Tamil Nadu, economic success is beautifully intertwined with social reforms.”
Remembering late Thuglak editor Cho Ramaswamy, Modi said he had a special style of journalism.
“In these times of unrest, it is the responsibility of magazines like Tughlak to increase awareness among people,” he added.
Actor Rajinikanth said Thuglak was a weapon for Cho. “With his satire, comments on the nation and devotion, he made people laugh and think,’’ he said.
Comparing Cho with late Tamil Nadu chief minister M G Ramachandran, Rajinikanth said, "If you remove MGR from a film, it won’t run in theatres for two days. Similarly, without Cho, Thuglak won’t run for two days,’’ he said, but hastened to add that its current editor S Gurumurthy has successfully run it without any loss in its original flavour.