BJP may change Tamil Nadu’s name to 'Dakshina Pradesh' if AIADMK comes to power: Stalin

Raking up the sensitive language issue, DMK President M K Stalin on Wednesday claimed that the BJP won’t even hesitate to rename Tamil Nadu as “Dakshina Pradesh” if its alliance partner AIADMK came to power after the April 23 assembly elections. To prevent such developments, Stalin told people to exercise their franchise in favour of candidates of the DMK-led Secular Progressive Alliance (SPA).

Campaigning for SPA candidates in Tiruchirapalli, one of the DMK's bastions, Stalin tore into the BJP and AIADMK for ignoring Tamil Nadu's interests. He also indirectly attacked Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK) chief Vijay by praising his challenger in the Tiruchirapalli (East) assembly seat, Inigo Irudayaraj, as someone who always advocates for minorities.

“He has already mingled closely with the people of the constituency. He's a candidate with real weight and substance,” Stalin said. On Tuesday, Stalin alleged that the BJP cobbled up a coalition with AIADMK in Tamil Nadu only with a “malicious intention” to stop the state’s progress under his administration over the last five years.

“If these people come to power, they won't hesitate even to rename Tamil Nadu as Dakshin Pradesh. To prevent this, the entire state of Tamil Nadu must unite as one against the BJP-ADMK alliance. We need to defeat our enemies and the BJP's turncoats,” Stalin said on Wednesday.

Language is a sensitive issue in the state and by bringing it into the election campaign, Stalin is attempting to project the BJP as “anti-Tamil Nadu” to bolster his “Tamil Nadu versus Delhi” narrative as the centrepiece of this election. Tamil Nadu has witnessed three massive agitations against Hindi imposition with the last one in 1965 turning violent.

He asked people to understand that the DMK was fighting not just for the victory of its candidates and alliance partners but for the victory of the state. “Our super-fast engine will never bow down before the BJP's dummy engine. Shall we show them our speed?” he asked, mocking at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pitch for a double-engine sarkar.

Stalin also targeted AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami by referring to an incident in Madurai where the portrait of social reformer E V R Periyar were allegedly removed from the banner of a NDA meeting at the insistence of the BJP.

“Would MGR (AIADMK founder) tolerated this? Or would Jayalalithaa have let it slide? Would they (MGR and Jayalalithaa) have stayed silent while Periyar and DMK founder C N Annadurai was humiliated like this?” he asked.