Prime Minister Narendra Modi at rally in Tamil Nadu on Friday.
Credit: X/@narendramodi
Maduranthakam: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday termed the ruling DMK as the “biggest enemy of Tamil culture” for refusing to implement a court order to light a lamp atop the Murugan Temple in Thiruparankundram and for moving an impeachment notice against the judge to “appease their vote bank”.
Sharing the dais with NDA leaders, including AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami and AMMK’s T T V Dhinakaran, Modi also said the “countdown” to Chief Minister M K Stalin’s government has commenced and asked the people of the state to vote for a “double-engine” NDA government.
Modi’s rally not just kicked off the NDA’s election campaign, but also busted the image that the alliance was a “non-starter” and that the AIADMK-BJP could not cobble together a strong coalition against the formidable DMK combine. He shared the dais with leaders of half-a-dozen political parties.
Throughout his speech, Modi emphasized an NDA government, not an AIADMK-led one , but the banners and allies like TTV, PMK’s Anbumani Ramadoss, and BJP’s K Annamalai -- who were declaring that it was their duty to make the AIADMK leader as the Chief Minister again -- dispelled any doubts about the face of the alliance in Tamil Nadu.
While the BJP insists it will be an NDA government, the AIADMK says it will form the new dispensation on its own. “Tamil Nadu is ready for a change. Tamil Nadu wants freedom from DMK’s misgovernance. We will change TN into a safe, corruption-free state,” Modi said, while taking a dig at the DMK and Congress.
The highlight of the rally was the coming together of TTV and EPS – who shared the dais and met eye-to-eye for the first time in eight years, which sent a strong message of unity within the NDA. TTV said he has “whole-heartedly” endorsed EPS as the CM face of the NDA and that they have buried their past differences to bring back Amma (J Jayalalithaa’s rule) in the state.
The two leaders later addressed a press conference , while sitting next to each other , with EPS asserting that there should be “no doubt” about the unity of the NDA after Friday’s meeting. TTV, who launched AMMK in 2018 against Palaniswami and O Panneerselvam, had converted from being anti-EPS at the prodding of the BJP, especially Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
Modi, in his speech, dubbed the DMK regime a “CMC government” , saying C stands for Corruption, M for Mafia, and C for Crime, and accused the ruling party of promoting a drug culture in the state.
Regarding the Thiruparankundram temple issue, Modi said that when a “controversy was manufactured” around the lighting of the lamp, NDA leaders stood up for the rights of devotees.
“But the DMK and its allies went so far as to drag even the courts into the issue to appease their vote bank. The DMK is the biggest enemy of Tamil culture,” Modi said, referring to the state’s refusal to light the lamp and I.N.D.I.A. MPs moving an impeachment notice against Justice G R Swaminathan, who gave the verdict in the temple issue.
The impeachment notice, signed by over 100 MPs from the I.N.D.I.A. bloc, came under sharp attack from the BJP, which has been trying to make inroads into the state by invoking Lord Murugan at every opportunity.
Rebutting Stalin’s charge that the Union Government was not devolving enough funds to the state, Modi said the BJP-led Centre has given three times as many funds to TN since 2011 compared to those given by the UPA regime, in which the DMK was an integral part.
Flagging the “deterioration” of the law and order situation in Tamil Nadu and the growing drug culture in the state, Modi said women are not safe in a state which was once ruled by Jayalalithaa with an iron fist. “Every vote that comes to the NDA will help free TN from the control of drugs.”