Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his next visit to Tamil Nadu on April 2, should tell the voters why was he unable to fulfill his poll promises of creating two crore jobs a year and bring back black money from abroad to give ₹15 lakh to every Indian family, DMK president M.K. Stalin said on Tuesday.
Canvassing votes for the DMK alliance candidates at Alangulam, Mr. Stalin said the promises were made during electioneering in 2014. Another promise of doubling farmers’ income had been put in cold storage as well.
“Did anyone here get the job or ₹15 lakh from Mr. Modi? We lost what we had when you [Modi] demonetised high-value currency notes. Instead of doubling the farmers’ income, you do not even have the courage to meet the farmers protesting on the streets of Delhi for more than 125 days, braving coldest of winters and the harsh summer. Answer all these questions when you visit Tamil Nadu again on April 2. Else the people will give you the answer on April 6 [voting day],” he said.
He countered the Prime Minister’s allegation that the DMK had never treated women with dignity. Mr. Modi, who had called Jayalalithaa [former Chief Minister] corrupt and wanted to politically obliterate her, had mentioned she was manhandled in the Assembly in 1989. “Then [AIADMK] MLA and current Tiruchi MP Su. Thirunavukkarasar [now in Congress], who was in the Assembly on that day, confessed later in the Assembly that the event was enacted in a bid to stall the presentation of the State Budget to cripple the smooth functioning of official machinery,” the DMK leader contended.
“The confession of Mr. Thirunavukkarasar is in the minutes of the Assembly. I am ready to send you the copy of his speech. A person adorning the office of the Prime Minister should not lie. You should ask your party leader Subramanian Swamy about the kind of reception accorded to him by a group of AIADMK women when he once came to the Madras High Court,” he said.
Mr. Stalin said the Prime Minister should also get an idea about the acid attack on former civil servant Chandralekha for having unearthed a corruption under Jayalalithaa’s administration.
The DMK leader questioned Mr. Modi’s commitment to fighting corruption when he was holding up the hands of Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami and his deputy O. Panneerselvam against whom the DMK had submitted a memorandum of corruption charges “to your [Centre’s] agent in Tamil Nadu, the Governor.” He claimed that instead of wiping out corruption and those who are inundated by corruption, the BJP was admitting the corrupt, the rowdies and anti-socials into the party.
Coming down heavily on Mr. Palaniswami, Mr. Stalin said the AIADMK government had not given the privileges meant for de-notified communities by introducing the ‘double certificate’ system, which would be scrapped after conducting due census of de-notified tribes and appointing a liaison officer for the purpose.
“The rivalry between Mr. Palaniswami and Mr. Panneerselvam is the reason behind following the ‘double certificate’ system for de-notified communities,” the DMK chief alleged.
