TNCC president K.S. Alagiri on Tuesday rejected BJP national president J.P. Nadda’s criticism that the Congress and the DMK are “obstacles to Tamil Nadu’s growth”. He said it was unacceptable to blame the Opposition parties for lack of growth.
In a statement, Mr. Alagiri said that Mr. Nadda does not have any right to criticise the Congress and the DMK when they are neither in power in the State or at the Centre.
“A State’s development can only be ensured by the Central and State governments. To state that Tamil Nadu’s Opposition parties are preventing the State’s growth is unacceptable. I condemn the BJP president’s argument with an intention to divert people’s attention [from important issues],” he said.
Mr. Alagiri said that multiple factors have “made BJP, the most hated party in Tamil Nadu.” These included President Ramnath Kovind’s refusal to sign on legislation that provides exemption to Tamil Nadu for NEET, Central government’s refusal to provide the Environmental Impact Assessment draft document in Tamil and trying enact it into a law without adequate discussion and series of amendments to workers rights, divestment of PSUs – privatisation of railways, and reducing the number of publicly owned banks. Besides, the Centre wants to implement the National Educational Policy unilaterally, he said.
