Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin on Thursday said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is in fear after the Patna opposition meet called by Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar and that is why the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is trying to exploit communal issues to win the upcoming 2024 Lok Sabha elections to remain in power.
Stalin was speaking in Chennai at the wedding of a party member’s family where he rallied people to vote for a secular party to form the Union government.
The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) chief slammed the Centre and PM Modi over the government’s handling of the Manipur situation.
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Pointing out the violence which has left at least 115 dead and more than 40,000 displaced, Stalin criticised the ruling BJP’s handling of the law and order situation in the northeastern state.
Stalin said that Manipur has been burning for 50 days but the prime minister has not yet got time to visit the state. Even an all-party meet by Union home minister Amit Shah was held after 50 days of violence, he said.
“This is how the BJP-led state and central government functions,” added Stalin.
{{/usCountry}}“This is how the BJP-led state and central government functions,” added Stalin.
{{/usCountry}}He further denounced PM Modi’s push for the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) during his in his first public meeting after returning from the US.
Addressing a gathering of BJP workers in Bhopal on Tuesday, Modi made a strong pitch for a UCC, saying the Constitution calls for equal rights for all citizens.
He also brought up triple talaq, discrimination against Pasmanda Muslims, and the opposition’s unity meet in Patna. While making a strong push for UCC, PM Modi on Tuesday said that India cannot run with “two laws” when the Constitution of India talks about equality for all.
“Modi said that UCC will be implemented and there cannot be two different laws in the country. He believes he can win again by giving rise to communal issues and creating confusion in the country. I am sure, people are ready to teach a lesson to the BJP in the upcoming parliamentary elections,” Stalin said.
He said that the government in Tamil Nadu is functioning based on a Dravidian model. Since the party formed the government in May 2021, DMK has consistently delivered their electoral promises.
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“For this to continue, I want to ask the people of Tamil Nadu, to be ready and decisive to bring a government at the Centre who is secular, who will support us and who will keep up state autonomy,” Stalin said.
On the BJP’s attack that the Congress and DMK follow ‘dynasty politics’, Stalin recounted an event when he was imprisoned for a year under the Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA) during the Emergency. “At that time, the Chennai prison did not allow families to meet the prisoners though the law permitted it,” said Stalin.
He said that his late father and five-time chief minister M Karunanidhi had warned of a ‘hunger strike’ in front of the prison if he and his other party workers are not permitted to meet their family members. “Thalaivar Kalaignar (Karunanidhi) had said only after families meet all the prisoners, will I meet my son. He didn’t consider only me as his son but he considered all party cadres, every prisoner, his son. So the PM is right in describing us as ‘family politics’,” said Stalin.