Accusing the ruling AIADMK of burying the ideals and principles of the Dravidian movement, DMK president M. Karunanidhi on Tuesday called upon the electorate to teach a lesson to that party’s leadership.
Addressing an election meeting here, Mr. Karunanidhi said Tamils could not live as slaves under a tyrant and it was time to teach the ruling party a lesson for its “misdeeds”. According to him, the State had slid in the past five years on the development front while prices of essential commodities had sky-rocketed.
The ideals on which the Dravidian movement was founded by Periyar and Anna were under severe threat. The DMK as a social movement strove for equality but the present ruling dispensation had buried the ideals several fathoms deep, he said.
“I will not allow anyone, who seeks to threaten the DMK and its ideology, to succeed. If our enemies win this election, none can save Tamil society and so we need to win this Assembly election,” the nonagenarian said.
Exhorting the party cadre to rise to the occasion, the former Chief Minister pointed out that the AIADMK had not bothered to release a manifesto for the Assembly elections whereas the DMK had released election manifesto and when the government was formed the party dutifully implemented the provisions in the manifesto.
“None earlier have drafted a document that closely reflected the aspirations of the common man as we have prepared our present manifesto. While the DMK rule was beneficial to the poor and the downtrodden, the AIADMK never cared for the development of the State and its people,” he said. Alleging that the AIADMK had been using money power to remain in power, Mr. Karunanidhi said he had come to seek votes only to safeguard the State from those who did not care about its people. “The time has come to teach the AIADMK a lesson or two. We can’t live as slaves under a tyrant,” he said. He implored the DMK cadre to be prepared for any sacrifice in the endeavour.
Reiterating that his detractors were trying to blame the DMK on the prohibition issue, he said prohibition as a policy was relaxed in the early 70s only for a brief period. But it was the AIADMK that entrenched the liquor sale and stretched it as a State seller. “I promise. I assure you all that total prohibition will be implemented and all liquor shops will be closed the moment the DMK is returned to power,” he said. “
Earlier, he campaigned from his van touring parts of Tiruvarur, Mannargudi, Vaduvoor and Thanjavur before arriving at the venue.
