The Communist Party of India (Marxist) will highlight the ‘empty promises’ of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the magnitude of corruption in the AIADMK government during its campaign, party State secretary K. Balakrishnan has said.
Talking to reporters here on Wednesday, he said the party would go all out to defeat the BJP in all the Lok Sabha constituencies, including the one in Puducherry.
Alleging that Mr. Modi had betrayed the people on a host of promises he had made while seeking to capture power in the 2014 general elections, especially on creating jobs and depositing money in people’s bank accounts after bringing black money stashed in foreign banks.
Having promised to deposit ₹15 lakh in people’s bank accounts, Mr. Modi had ended up depositing ₹2,000 (towards the first instalment under the PM KISAN scheme) and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami another ₹2,000. “When the BJP and AIADMK come for votes, people should ask them what happened to the balance of ₹14.96 lakh,” he said.
When the State government sought an assistance of ₹15,000 crore to take up rehabilitation work in areas hit by Cyclone Gaja, the Centre released a meagre ₹1,000 crore, he said. In the last five years, the Centre had made systematic moves to promote Hindi at the cost of Tamil, he alleged.
The Modi government had also betrayed farmers and people were cheated in the guise of direct subsidy for cooking gas. They were forced to shell out ₹980 per cylinder, he alleged. The spiralling prices of petrol and diesel had also ruined their lives.
The ‘corrupt Edappadi government’ supported the anti-people policies of the Centre to remain in power, he alleged. The Pollachi sexual abuse case clearly showed that there was no protection for women in the State, he said. Answering a question, he said the DMK-led secular progressive front was not against Hindus or any religion. “We want people of all religions to live in harmony,” he said.
