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BJP slams DMK MP A Raja for ‘India not a nation’ remarks
A Raja said that India is not a nation but a subcontinent, and claimed that Tamil Nadu will never accept slogans of ‘Jai Shri Ram’ and ‘Bharat Mata ki jai’.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday took offence to a recent speech of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) member of Parliament (MP) and former Union minister A Raja in which he says Tamil Nadu will not accept slogans such as ‘Jai Shri Ram’ and added that every state has its own uniqueness.
BJP IT wing head Amit Malviya posted the purported speech of Raja on X and said the MP had called for the “Balkanisation” of India. “Hate speeches from DMK’s stable continue unabated. After Udhayanidhi Stalin’s call to annihilate Sanatan Dharma, it is now A Raja who calls for balkanisation of India, derides Bhagwan Ram, makes disparaging comments on Manipuris and questions the idea of India, as a nation,” Malviya said on X.
A DMK leader told HT that Raja had made this speech on March 4 in Madurai district. The controversy comes a day after the Supreme Court on Monday pulled up Tamil Nadu sports minister Udhayanidhi Stalin for “abusing” his right to freedom of speech through his “eradicate Sanatan Dharma” remark made last year, and said that being a minister, he should have been more careful with his statements and mindful of the possible consequences they could have.
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“India is not a nation but a subcontinent. What’s the reason?” Raja asked. “Here, Tamil is one nation and one country. Malayalam is one language, one nation and one country. Oriya is a nation, a language and a country. All these nations make up India. So, India is not a country, it is a subcontinent. There are so many traditions and cultures. If you come to Tamil Nadu, there’s a culture. In Kerala, there’s another culture. In Delhi, there’s another culture. In Oriya, there’s another culture. Why in Manipur, as RS Bharathi said, they eat dog meat. Yes, it is true, they eat. That’s a culture. There’s nothing wrong. It’s all in our mind.”
Tamil Nadu BJP chief K Annamalai said, “Constructing imaginary situations & poisoning the minds of the people with secessionist thoughts has been the bedrock of Dravidian politics.” “I.N.D.I. Alliance member DMK wants this country divided desperately post the elections. The propaganda of the DMK buried in 1963 will never be allowed to rise & we strongly condemn the I.N.D.I. Alliance for its desperate attempts to break our country and acting as a puppet of foreign agents,” he said on X.
In his speech, Raja points out that Prime Minister Narendra Modi says that after elections there will be no DMK. He rebuts that if the BJP comes to power there will be no India. “India is a sovereign, secular, socialist, democratic, according to our Constitution. If you (BJP) come back, there will be no Constitution. That’s why I said India won’t be there,” Raja said. “If India won’t be there, Tamil Nadu will secede. Does India want this?”
In his trademark fiery speech, Raja goes on to say that Tamil Nadu will never accept slogans of ‘Jai Shri Ram’ and ‘Bharat Mata ki jai’ and that he couldn’t accept the BJP’s ideology linked to Ramayana and Lord Ram.
