Taking the political lead in declaring the face of the united opposition for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, DMK president M.K. Stalin on Sunday proposed Congress president Rahul Gandhi as the Prime Ministerial candidate of the anti-BJP front. He said the Gandhi scion had the ability to defeat the “fascist-Nazist Narendra Modi Government”.
Addressing a public meeting at the YMCA Grounds in Royapettah, shortly after the unveiling of a life-size statue of late DMK leader M. Karunanidhi at Anna Arivalayam , Mr. Stalin said, “We will install a new Prime Minister in capital Delhi.
“We will build a new India. Welcome Rahul Gandhi, give the nation good governance. As the Son of Dr Kalaignar , I propose the candidature of Rahul Gandhi from Tamil Nadu.”
In 2004, Karunanidhi had similarly proposed Sonia Gandhi as the face of the United Progressive Alliance then pitted against Vajpayee’s National Democratic Alliance.
In the presence of UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Mr. Rahul Gandhi, Chief Ministers N. Chandrababu Naidu (Andhra Pradesh), Pinarayi Vijayan (Kerala), V. Narayanasamy (Puducherry) and a host of other leaders, Mr. Stalin said: “I appeal to the respected leaders of all the parties on the dais to strengthen the hands of Rahul Gandhi and save this nation.”
He said Mr. Rahul Gandhi was India’s young leader and was appreciated by Kalaignar for his “fighting spirit and unwavering commitment to ideology.”
Charging that India’s social harmony and Constitution was in danger and the economy was in doldrums because of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP government, Mr. Stalin said Mr. Modi has turned India’s clock back by 15 years. “If he is allowed to rule for another five years, the clock will turn back another 50 years,” he said explaining why the DMK and its friendly parties were opposing Mr. Modi.
Mr. Stalin claimed that instead of considering himself a Prime Minister elected by the people, Mr. Modi had the arrogance of a king ruling by virtue of hereditary rights. “He considers himself not just as the Prime Minister, but also the President, Chief Justice of the country, the Reserve Bank Governor, the CBI and the Income-Tax department. That is why the opposition has come together against him. This is not just to pack off Mr. Modi, but to save democracy and do good for the nation,” he added.
“Mr. Modi is a ‘sadist’ Prime Minister who implemented schemes that are opposed by Tamil Nadu. I am using this word because of the severity of the devastation they have caused,” he said.
Recalling how Karunanidhi had coined the slogan, “Welcome, Indira’s daughter-in-law; Victory for India’s noble daughter” to welcome Sonia Gandhi to lead the opposition in 2004, Mr. Stalin said, “ Kalaignar wanted to keep her letter intimating him about conferring Classical Language status to Tamil in his memorial.”
