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‘Political black comedy’: Stalin’s sharp comeback to Yogi Adityanath in BJP vs DMK
In response to Yogi Adityanath, Tamil Nadu chief minister Stalin said: “This isn’t riot-for-votes politics. This is a battle for dignity and justice”
CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin on Thursday took a sharp swipe at Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath for accusing him of practising divisive politics over the three-language policy, asserting that the UP chief minister trying to lecture Tamil Nadu on hate was “political dark comedy at its darkest”.
“This isn’t riot-for-votes politics. This is a battle for dignity and justice,” Stalin said in a post on X that responded to Yogi Adityanath’s remarks in an interview with ANI.
In the interview, the chief minister claimed that Stalin was trying to create divisions based on region and language. “This is merely narrow politics. When these people feel their vote bank is at risk, they try to create divisions based on region and language. The people of this country should always be alert to such divisive politics and stand firm for the unity of the country,” Yogi Adityanath told ANI on Wednesday.
The UP chief minister’s remarks were a continuation of the back-and-forth between the DMK and the BJP over a raging controversy over Hindi, specifically against the backdrop of the National Education Policy, which mandates a three-language policy – something that states such as Tamil Nadu see as a proxy for Hindi imposition. Language has long been an emotive issue for the state that was rocked by anti-Hindi agitation in the 1960s.
On Thursday, Stalin responded to Yogi Adityanath’s remarks, underlining that Tamil Nadu’s “fair and firm voice” on the state’s two-language policy and fair delimitation “had been echoing nationwide—and the BJP is clearly rattled. Just watch their leaders’ interviews.”
“And now Hon’ble Yogi Adityanath wants to lecture us on hate? Spare us. This isn’t irony—it’s political black comedy at its darkest,” he said.
“We don’t oppose any language; we oppose imposition and chauvinism,” he said.
K Annamalai, president of the BJP’s Tamil Nadu unit, hit back at Stalin after his attack aimed at Yogi Adityanath.
“Usually, con artists scam the rich, but DMK shows no disparity; they scam both the rich and the poor,” Annamalai said on X. “The whole country now knows that the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu’s family owns private schools that teach three languages & more but opposes the same policy for the state’s Government school students. They are calling you a hypocrite…”
