Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, stopping short of reviving the DMK’s demand of autonomy to state, by blaming central government to subvert the growing public anger against government. In his Independence Day speech: “State governments are forced to depend on the Union government due to discrimination in the devolution of funds, policies and court judgements.” Stalin added that at a time when states working closely with people need more funds and autonomy, the Union government was doing the opposite by snatching away the powers of states in key sectors including health and education.
The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister said that such constant struggles for basic rights and funds through arguments and legal battles do not bode well for a federal country. He stated, “This will also affect the state’s growth and national progress. Only when states grow independently and distinctively will the country truly develop.”
In recent times, Stalin’s harsh and baseless rants have been directly targeted at the BJP and other Hindutva parties, often going unchecked.
After recuperating for an alleged medical procedure in a private hospital for a week, on August 3 Stalin wrote a letter to DMK party cadres accusing the BJP of being hell-bent on introducing Kula Kalvi (caste-based education) under the guise of the New Education Policy (NEP). He alleged that the BJP was acting against the interests of Tamil Nadu. In his epistle to party workers, Stalin wrote: “The Union BJP government is trying to impose Hindi through the NEP to destroy other languages. It is trying to bring Kula Kalvi education to deny the oppressed classes the opportunity to study.”
He had earlier alleged that the BJP wanted to impose “Aryan culture” on the people of Tamil Nadu. Stalin remarked, “If Kalaignar (M. Karunanidhi) were alive, he would oppose the BJP government vehemently. We, who learnt political lessons from him, are opposing the Centre with the same vigour.”
In the first week of July, CM Stalin exhorted students by saying, “Periyar E.V. Ramasamy, Mahatma Gandhi and B.R. Ambedkar are the leaders to be followed, not the ideological descendants of Nathuram Godse.” Inaugurating the platinum jubilee celebrations of Jamal Mohammed College in Trichy, Stalin said: “Beware of the path of Godse. You should opt for Gandhi, Ambedkar and E.V. Ramasamy. Never, ever should you fall prey to the crowd that worships Godse. There are noble ways shown by leaders like Gandhiji, Ambedkar and Periyar which should be followed, but students must not follow those who uphold Godse’s ideology.”
He further said: “When we all stand together, no one can defeat us politically. The Dravidian Model government is the government for Tamil Nadu and the Tamil people. The Dravidian Model government will always help Muslims to acquire political rights.”
In July, Stalin, addressing DMK MPs of the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha in Chennai, said: “The BJP rule was only about crippling people’s rights, snatching away states’ rights, imposing Hindi and Sanskrit everywhere, nurturing communalism and, more specifically, deceiving Tamil Nadu.” In a social media post, he added that the 11 years of NDA rule amounted to a “National Dictatorship Arrangement”.
Earlier, Stalin alleged that there had been attempts to paint Tamil poet-saint Thiruvalluvar in saffron and “steal him” since there was none worth celebrating in Aryan culture.
One social media activist countered this with a post saying: “No Dravidian worth celebrating, so Karunanidhi named him Stalin.”
Recently, after releasing a book on the Thirukkural written by Vairamuthu, Stalin stated: “Thiruvalluvar cannot be stolen. Thiruvalluvar was a rationalist who stood for social justice. If someone tries to snatch away Thiruvalluvar, it implies that there is no one worth emulating or celebrating in Aryan culture. They are unable to bear the force of the Thirukkural. Tamil society must oppose attempts to paint ideological colours on Thiruvalluvar. Manu Neethi cannot enter a place where there is justice based on the Thirukkural. When Aryan civilisation tried to destroy Dravidian tradition, the Thirukkural protected it.”
Reacting to this, Tamil Nadu’s former BJP chief K. Annamalai said: “You have painted Thiruvalluvar as an Aryan stooge. Why do you bother if we paint him green, yellow, red or saffron? What bothers you? Why do you, Stalin, make an issue out of it?”
On July 15, speaking after inaugurating the centenary auditorium with a life-size statue of L. Elayaperumal at Lalpuram in Chidambaram (a former Congress leader), Stalin reiterated that as long as Dravidian, Marxist, Gandhian and Ambedkarite ideologies stay united in Tamil Nadu, no saffron agenda would succeed. He said: “The leaders of Marxist, Dravidian, Gandhian and Ambedkarite movements are on the stage united. This unity symbolises Tamil Nadu. When Tamil Nadu is united like this, no saffron agenda from Delhi will succeed. In the history of Tamil Nadu, it is the Dravidian Model government that has implemented the highest number of welfare projects for Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities.”
AIADMK leader Edappadi K. Palaniswami, speaking in Nagapattinam on July 19, said: “Stalin is a super CM only in taking loans. Stalin claims himself to be ‘super Chief Minister of the country’ wherever he goes. However, he is a super CM only when it comes to borrowing. Tamil Nadu has taken the highest amount of loans in the country. The state government has availed Rs 4.38 lakh crore in four years and would take another lakh crore. It is the people who will have to repay those loans through the taxes levied by the DMK government.”
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