Chennai: Taking a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for claiming himself to be a custodian of chowkidars, DMK president MK Stalin has accused him of protecting only a section of corporates. Addressing an election meeting in Cuddalore on Thursday, Stalin said that Modi protects Tamil Nadu Government led by Edapadi K Palanisamy and Modi is a ‘Kalavani’.
Addressing the gathering, Stalin campaigned for DMK candidate for Cuddalore LS Poll Ramesh and VCK candidate for Chidambaram (SC) Constituency Thol Thirumalavanan, who is contesting on trhe ‘pot’ symbol. He appealed the voters to elect the candidates of DMK-led coalition with a thumping majority in the election and dedicate victory to former DMK chief late M Karunanidhi.
Earlier, addressing an election meeting at Tirunelveli on Tuesday, the DMK President said that his party was not against Hindus or Hinduism. While campaigning for the party’s candidate Gnanadiraviyam, Stalin launched an attack against the BJP, accusing it of trying to spread rumours that DMK was an anti-Hindu party. He said “I am asking them if DMK is an anti-Hindu party, then who are all those people who are in DMK? Can they answer this question?” he said, adding that Hinduism does not belong to the BJP alone. “They are staging a drama like they are the gatekeepers of Hinduism.”
Noting that DMK’s manifesto assured the protection of all religions, Stalin said that the party is not against any particular religion or caste. “DMK’s primary duty is to protect social harmony. We have clearly mentioned in our manifesto that the central and the state governments must protect the traditions of all religions without differentiating into majority and minority,” he said. In the manifesto for the 2019 general elections, the DMK highlighted the importance of forming a special team to check the theft of idols from temples.
Stalin said that the former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu M Karunanidhi had introduced several schemes for the benefit of Hindus in the state. “In 1996, it was the then Chief Minister Karunanidhi who formed an expert advisory committee under the auspices of the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments department to give suggestions for the improvement of administration of temples. He recovered more temple properties than his predecessor and improved the revenues in temples.”
During the DMK regime maximum number of kumbabishekams took place in temples across the state, he noted.
