Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the AIADMK’s “daddy”, DMK president M.K. Stalin said on Thursday, adding that both the AIADMK and the BJP had not done anything for the people. The Assembly election on April 6 was not just an election about regime change, but an election to save the State’s self-respect, he said.
Campaigning for his party’s Pallavaram, Alandur and Sholinganallur candidates at Pallavaram, Mr. Stalin said the State had been pushed to new depths in all sectors in the last 10 years of AIADMK rule.
Mr. Stalin said the DMK would provide a COVID-19 relief amount of ₹4,000 to the people of the State on June 3, Karunanidhi’s birth anniversary. While the DMK had been asking the AIADMK government to give ₹5,000 per family, the government had given just ₹1,000. The DMK would provide the remaining amount on June 3 after coming to power, he said.
The DMK president said the AIADMK government had not kept any of its promises made in its manifesto during the last election.
COVID-19 cases
With COVID-19 cases rising again in the State, Mr. Stalin said Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami had mocked the DMK, especially its general secretary Duraimurugan, when they asked for preventive measures in the early days of the pandemic.
“The Chief Minister said there will be no COVID-19 cases in the State because this is Amma’s [Jayalalithaa’s] rule. We are now seeing a second wave coming,” he said.
Mr. Stalin said apart from asking for votes for his party’s candidates, he had come to the people to ask for votes for himself, too. “Only if you vote for our candidates will I become the Chief Minister. I have come to you as the chief ministerial candidate,” he said.
At an election campaign in Tiruvannamalai, Mr. Stalin said if an AIADMK candidate was elected to power in the April 6 election, he/she would behave like a BJP MLA in the House.
Therefore, there was a need to defeat AIADMK and BJP candidates in every constituency, he added.
He alleged that the AIADMK Theni MP was behaving like a BJP MP and had Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s photo on his letter pad.
Canvassing votes for former Minister E.V. Velu (Tiruvannamalai), K. Pichandi (Kilpennathur), M.P. Giri (Chengam), K.V. Sekaran (Polur), Ambethkumar (Vandavasi), Saravanan (Kalasapakkam), S.S. Anbazhagan (Arani) and O. Jothi (Cheyyar) of the DMK, he said the party had fielded candidates in all eight seats in Tiruvannamalai and urged the cadres to ensure their victory. “Kalaignar had created Tiruvannamalai district in 1989,” he added.
Tiruvannamalai was a spiritual place, he said. “The DMK had made several promises related to Hindu Religious Endowments and Charitable Department – ₹1,000 crore for temple consecration, cable car in hill station temples, modernise temples without affecting their historicity, expand slokas in Tamils, appointment of qualified priests from all castes, concrete path for girivalam and so on,” he added.
“Whenever there is an election, the parties that oppose the DMK will say that we are against Hindus. I would like to say that we are not against anyone’s religious belief. My government will respect all religious beliefs. I assure you that. Those who use religion in politics must understand that this is Tamil Nadu — Tamil people have clarity that politics is different and spirituality is different. The BJP will take 100 years to understand this – they have no brains,” he said.
‘Impose Hindi’
Pointing to the fact that the BJP released its candidate list in Hindi, Mr. Stalin said, “Their rule is a rule for Hindi speaking people. They want to impose Hindi and are trying to provide jobs for Hindi-speaking youth in Tamil Nadu and they are trying to grow through that... Palaniswami and the group may become bystanders to this. But the DMK and Tamil people won’t stand and watch.”
Mr. Stalin said the party was not against the Hindi language or the north Indian States. “Please understand that we are not against Hindi, but don’t impose it on us. We don’t hate north Indians, but education and jobs should be reserved for Tamils. Can we go to other States for jobs as huge groups? The BJP government in States is reserving jobs for those people in the State. New Education Policy is a Kula Kalvi Thittam [hereditary occupation],” Mr. Stalin said.
The election should be treated as an ideological war, not just to sit in the throne. “We can save the future of our youngsters. Don’t treat this as an election. It is an opportunity to save our ideology. A war to save Tamil Nadu that was built over 50 years. We must win it,” he said.
Mr. Stalin said, “Velu has been a Minister and is managing the district for the party. He had the goodwill of Kalaignar,” said Mr. Stalin.
Supporting Mr. Sekaran, who is contesting against the AIADMK’s Agri Krishnamoorthy, Mr. Stalin said Jayalalithaa had sidelined Mr. Krishnamoorthy for his corrupt activities. “He gained prominence again only after the death of Jayalalithaa and got the ticket in Polur. I am sure that the people would sideline him as much as Jayalalithaa,” he said.
Mr. Stalin listed DMK promises such as the monthly salary for homemakers, reduction in fuel prices, free travel in public buses for women and so on.
