DHARMAPURI: Chief Minister M K Stalin on Monday threw down a political gauntlet to Prime Minister Narendra Modi by asking him to come to Tamil Nadu and repeat the “hate speeches against TN” he made during his recent campaign in Bihar.
“Does he (PM) have the guts to make the same speech in TN?” Stalin was speaking after attending a marriage reception of Dharmapuri MP A Mani’s son at a private venue along the Dharmapuri Pennagaram road.
At a poll rally in Bihar, Modi had alleged that the DMK was harassing people from Bihar.
The PM had expressed hatred against Tamil Nadu “for electoral gains in Bihar”, the CM said, adding that it was nothing but “vote politics”.
“Whatever efforts the union government may make, the BJP cannot do anything in Tamil Nadu, it cannot establish a presence in TN. The BJP is enraged by its own failures, which is why PM Modi was promoting hate speeches against TN in Bihar.
The PM is putting up an act for vote politics. Can the PM make the same statement he made in Bihar here in Tamil Nadu? Will he make the same speech? Does he have the guts to do so?
Stalin also accused the Election Commission of India (ECI) of setting up a plot in the name of special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. This is nothing but to “remove actual voters from the electoral list”.
“We are trying to put a stop to this (SIR). We had gathered leaders from various political parties and passed a resolution to oppose this. Everyone who participated in the meeting expressed their desire for a fair election.
They have opined that a pure voters’ list is an absolute necessity. With the elections only a few months away, the ECI is planning to complete revisions by then. This is a scheme to remove actual voters from the electoral rolls. They had already done this in Bihar; now they are trying to do the same in other states.”
Stalin said when SIR was implemented in Bihar, “we were the first to speak out against it”. “Despite a case being filed in the Supreme Court, the ECI, instead of providing a proper explanation, they are forcefully trying to implement SIR in TN.
So we gathered various political leaders and passed a resolution opposing it.”At the same time, Stalin asserted that no such political manipulations can get in the way of the DMK forming a government again in TN in 2026.
“No matter what schemes, defamatory statements, and fake news are created against us, I can say with certainty that in the upcoming 2026 Assembly elections, we will retain power. I have faith in the people of Tamil Nadu. I appeal to the electorate to ensure that the DMK is brought back to power again,” the CM said.
Taking a dig at AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami, the CM said the opposition leader is “scared to oppose the ECI, because he is afraid of the BJP”.
To appease his party cadres, Palaniswami has issued a statement, the CM said, adding that this shows even he has doubts about the ECI’s motives, but he is in a position where he cannot openly express his opinions “due to his ties with the BJP”.
