The Tamil Nadu BJP on Sunday adopted a resolution urging the Centre to posthumously confer the Bharat Ratna, the country’s highest civilian award, on Nammazhvar for his contributions to environment and organic farming.
Briefing mediapersons on the sidelines of the party’s executive committee meeting in Arapakkam village near Arcot, senior BJP leader Pon Radhakrishnan said the committee had passed 15 resolutions, including the one to confer Bharat Ratna on Nammazhvar, at the meeting, which was attended by the party’s State president K. Annamalai. “Key resolutions on banned substances, school education, Centrally sponsored schemes in the State and Agnipath scheme were passed,” he said.
Alleging that ganja and tobacco products were available near schools, he charged that the DMK government had failed to curb this menace. Responding to a journalist’s statement that such banned substances mostly came from Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, Mr. Radhakrishnan said irrespective of where it came from, the Tamil Nadu government had a duty to prevent its entry into the State and its sale in public places.
“The State government should focus on school education as around 47,000 students have failed in Tamil subjects this year. It is very sad,” he said. Claiming there was massive support for the Agnipath scheme, he said 9.4 lakh aspirants had applied to join the army under the scheme. The scheme aimed at bridging the average age gap in the army from 37 years to 27 years. Army personnel serving in foreign countries, including the U.S., have an average age of 27 years, he said.
Earlier, Union Minister of State for Fisheries, L. Murugan, senior office-bearers of the party and other officials held a closed-door meeting as part of preparations for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
