Prime Minister Narendra Modi waves at crowd during a public meeting in support of their NDA candidates for Tamil Nadu Assembly polls, at Dharapuram, in Tiruppur district.
In a veiled attack, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday dubbed former union telecom minister A Raja, as an ‘outdated 2G missile’ of the Congress and DMK and slammed him for insulting the mother of Chief Minister K Palaniswami and targeting Tamil Nadu women.
In his first poll rally for the April 6 Assembly polls, Modi alleged it was part of Congress-DMK culture to insult women and the opposition’s ‘anti-women mindset’ extended to other states as well like West Bengal, where an elderly woman Shova Majumdar lost her life.
While NDA’s agenda is development, the Congress and DMK have their own ‘dynasty agenda.’ The speeches of the leaders of these parties had nothing positive to offer and they hardly talk about their vision or work and all they do is ‘demean’ others and spread ‘lies,’ he claimed.
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Without naming Raja, Modi in his election rally in Dharapuram said Congress and DMK have launched their ‘outdated 2G missile’ and this missile has one clear target, the women of Tamil Nadu.
“A few days back, this missile was launched by UPA with a clear order to attack the nari shakti of Tamil Nadu.”
Today Congress and DMK have insulted the respected mother of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami, he alleged. “God forbid, if they come to power, they will insult many other women of Tamil Nadu.”
Days ago, in his campaign, Raja allegedly spoke in an offensive, derogatory manner over the birth of Palaniswami and the ruling AIADMK lodged a police complaint and a case has been registered against him. Raja later apologised for his remark but claimed his words were taken out of context.
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Asking Congress and DMK leadership to control their party leaders, the PM said the ‘proud’ sons and daughters of Tamil Nadu never compromised on their ideals and fought against injustice, and the people ‘are noting everything’ and they would never tolerate insult to the women of the state.
“The DMK and Congress will not guarantee women empowerment. In their rule, crime against women are up and local strongmen disturb peace.”
One of the campaign lines of the AIADMK is an allegation that DMK is an unruly party and during its regime henchmen rule the roost. Modi alleged, sadly, it was part of the Congress-DMK culture to insult women and when DMK propagandist Dindigul Leoni and also that party’s young ‘crown prince’ (Udhayanidhi Stalin) made ‘horrible’ remarks against women, the DMK did nothing to stop them.
He took a swipe at the DMK over dynastic politics, saying the ‘crown prince sidelined many senior leaders of that party.
Also, he recalled the infamous episode in Tamil Nadu Assembly on March 25, 1989 when late AIADMK supremo, J Jayalalithaa (then leader of opposition) was attacked allegedly by DMK leaders. He asked the people to ‘never forget’ that day in 1989 and the treatment meted out to her by the DMK.
The opposition’s anti-women mindset is not restricted to Tamil Nadu, he said. In West Bengal, an elderly lady, Shova Majumdar lost her life.
“A few weeks ago, we all saw with horror how goons belonging to TMC brutally attacked her just because her ideology was different.” Though this has been in the news for long, he asked if the Congress party showed any empathy or its ally the DMK condemned it. Also, he wondered if DMK’s ally the Left parties condemned such behaviour.
“Did their friends TMC with whom they hold strategy meets in Delhi show any regret ? No not all. Pindrop silence among opposition.”
Inspired by ideals of great ‘Andal and Avvaiyar,’ the NDA believed that the progress of society was not complete without women empowerment.
Goddess Andal is the only woman among 12 ‘Alwars,’ who are revered Vaishnavite saints of Tamil Nadu. Avvaiyar is a saint and Tamil poetess. That’s why all government schemes were aimed at strengthening women, he said.
He mentioned several schemes, including the Swachh Bharat Mission, Ujjwala Yojana and how these have benefitted women and under housing plans (PM Awas Yojana) the allotments were made in the name of women ensuring their dignity and empowerment.
The Prime Minister began his speech, by chanting ‘Vetrivel, Veeravel,’ in sync with his party’s state unit’s ‘culture’ push.
He also spoke of divinity, an old temple here, that attracted people to this region and how the region nurtured freedom fighters including Tirupur Kumaran and Dheeran Chinnamalai.
After a fringe group denigrated ‘Kanda Sashti Kavacham’ hymn in praise of Lord Muruga last year, it led to outrage and a big controversy. After the issue was taken up by the BJP those involved were arrested.
Since then, the saffron party has embraced the Vetrivel slogan, a war cry of olden times and also a primary slogan of ‘Hindu Munnani,’ its ideological sibling in Tamil Nadu. BJP’s Tamil Nadu unit president L Murugan is seeking his luck from Dharapuram (Reserved) for the first time and the party is leaving no stone to make him emerge victorious.
Murugan is credited by partymen for his successful ‘Vel’ yatra last year in Tamil Nadu, which according to them put the DMK on the backfoot and its chief M K Stalin was prompted to pose by holding a ‘Vel.’
The BJP had all along alleged ‘Karuppar Koottam’ that denigrated the Kavacham had the DMK’s backing. The Dravidian major had time and again reiterated that it was not anti-Hindu and denounced ‘false’ propaganda.
