Tirunelveli: At a rally on Monday concluding his Lok Sabha poll campaign in Tamil Nadu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a Tamil-centric pitch as he proposed to set up Thiruvalluvar centres globally, and labelled the Congress and DMK 'sinners' over 'ceding' Katchatheevu to Sri Lanka.
Not only did they keep "the people of Tamil Nadu in the dark, they told lies to them and committed a sin behind the scenes, Modi alleged.
"Our fishermen brothers get the punishment for the sins of the DMK and Congress," he said, in an apparent reference to the frequent arrests of Tamil Nadu fishermen by Sri Lanka.
This 'sin' of theirs remained hidden for four decades and it is the BJP that unravelled the truth and brought it to the attention of the people, he claimed. Following this, the DMK and Congress have just 'gone silent', he alleged.
Modi then went on to slam the ruling DMK in Tamil Nadu over the alleged corruption and drug menace in the state.
He also accused the DMK of insulting the legacy of late Chief Minister M G Ramachandran and said the Dravidian party had 'ill treated' late AIADMK matriarch J Jayalalithaa in the state assembly, alluding to the unruly scenes in the House in 1989.
In an attempt to appeal to the cultural sensibilities of the people of the state, Modi pointed out that the BJP had released its manifesto on the day of Tamil New Year. He also said that his party has resolved to set up Thiruvalluvar centres across the globe.
"We worked day and night for Tamil Nadu's development in the past 10 years," Modi told the people gathered there, and exhorted them to vote for the saffron party, saying, "For those who love Tamil language and culture, their first choice is the BJP and so is the case with those who love the country."
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