Knowing well that opposing the Emergency would result in losing power, the DMK president M. Karunanidhi, who was then the Chief Minister, staunchly attacked the Central government when Indira Gandhi was the Prime Minister, said DMK working president M. K. Stalin here on Wednesday.
Leading a demonstration against the Centre’s demonetisation move (which was introduced on Nov 8, last year), Mr. Stalin said that the DMK had in the past opposed policies, which were anti-people and would continue to do so in future. “For the last 68 years, the party had been serving the common man irrespective of whether it was in power or not... Many parties may have come to power and gone, but the DMK had always served the needy and contributed for the growth of the economy.”
When Emergency was declared, the DMK opposed it tooth and nail. It also suffered in the hands of the then rulers for its act. The party would never be cowed down by threats and would be in the forefront in leading the fight - with a singular objective of serving the welfare of the masses, he said.
Comparing the Emergency days in the 70s with the present regime of BJP governance at the Centre, Mr. Stalin said that the claims to eliminate black money and among others had not been achieved. On the contrary, millions of people have lost jobs. Small and tiny units have lost their businesses and shut shops. The country had been ruined and people shattered, he said.
The “wrong” policies had doomed the economy. The demonetisation had benefited the friends of BJP and not the masses as claimed by the Union government, Mr. Stalin charged and recalled how experts and economists such as former Reserve Bank Governor Raghuram Rajan, former Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha and BJP MP Subramanian Swamy had voiced concern since it was implemented.
Modi-Karunanidhi meet, a courtesy call
Clarifying that it was just a courtesy call, Mr. Stalin said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had expressed wish to meet Mr. Karunanidhi during his recent visit to Chennai. When this was the fact, some media, with a motive to create confusion, gave a twist that the DMK had joined hands with BJP. “Never it will happen as the DMK was ideologically opposed to the policies of the BJP,” he asserted amid loud cheers from the crowd.
Joining him in the anti-demonetisation demonstration were senior party functionaries including Pon Muthuramalingam, Sedapatti R. Muthiah, MLAs P.T.R.Palanivel Thiagarajan and P. Moorthy, former MLAs Thalapathi, Velusamy, former Mayor P. Kulandaivelu, former minister Tamilarasi and leaders from the Indian National Congress, VCK, Manithaneya Katchi.
