Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while seeking votes for Tamil Nadu BJP chief L Murugan in his Dharapuram constituency on 30th March slammed the Congress-DMK over crassly comments on women particularly CM Palaniswamy’s dead mother. This was the first time Prime Minister visited Dharapuram that too to canvass for his party’s TN head.
PM Modi said “ Both DMK and Congress will not guarantee women empowerment as ‘insulting women’ is part of their culture. Today DMK and Congress have insulted the respected mother of CM K Palaniswamy. God forbid if they come power, they will insult many other women of the state”. In an indirect jibe on DMK MP Andimuthu Raja whose, derogatory comments about CM Palaniswamy’s mother and questioning his birth did not go well with the women in the state. They were up in arms and took a stand not to vote DMK in the coming elections. Based on AIADMK’s complaint, the Election Commission sought an explanation from A Raja. In his reply, Raja denied having made any such derogatory comments but a made comparison between Stalin and Palaniswamy.
In this background, PM Modi spoke in a public meeting. He said, “the people are noting everything. They will never tolerate any insult to the women. Both DMK and Congress should control their leaders. Recalling the March 25, 1989 incidence PM Modi said “the DMK mistreated the then Leader of Opposition, Jayalalithaa. DMK may insult ‘ many other women of Tamil Nadu if elected to power. The anti-women mindset of the opposition parties is not restricted to Tamil Nadu. In West Bengal, the aged mother of the party worker was beaten to death by TMC goons. Both Congress and DMK have launched their outdated 2G missile which has a clear target, the women of the state. A few days back, this missile was launched by the UPA with a clear order- to attack the nari shakthi of Tamil Nadu.”
“We in the NDA are inspired by the thoughts and lofty ideals of great saint Andal and poet Avvaiyaar. Bharat takes pride in the culture of Tamil Nadu. We believe that the progress of the society is not complete without the empowerment of women”. He listed out the slew of schemes like the implementation of toilets free houses, distribution of LPG connection, maternity benefit distribution and others. PM Modi said Dharapuram had produced great freedom fighters such as Tiruppur Kumaran, Kalingarayar and Dheeran Chinnamalai. “ The centre is positively looking at the people’s demand for a rail link”, he assured.
PM Modi also mentioned one of the DMK MLA candidates, Dindigul I Leoni, who made sexist comments on naval of women. He came down heavily on DMK for not taking any action against such candidates and speakers.
Addressing a rally in Puducherry, PM Modi said, “Despite so many years of loyalty and lifting slippers of his leader and doing the wrong translation to impress his political boss, former CM was denied a seat to contest. This clearly shows how much of a disaster the government turned out to be”. He said the previous Congress-led government was controlled by Delhi high command. “It had failed in fronts. Be it any sector, there was loot and only loot. Congress MLAs are openly talking about corruption directly linking to the family members of the former Chief Minister”, PM Modi said. He assured, “ we will not trouble the local industries. New jobs will be generated for the youth. We are working to strengthen the blue economy so that the fisheries sector grows”.
