DMK enemy of TN’s future: Modi

The history of the DMK and Congress is loot. They want to come to power to loot the people. On one side is the BJP’s welfare schemes, on the other (in the INDIA bloc) is the scams of crores of rupees. We gave optical fibre, 5G and other digital initiatives. INDI alliance has 2G scam - Prime Minister Narendra Modi

Kanniyakumari: Launching a blistering attack on the ruling DMK in Tamil Nadu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday called the Dravidian party an 'enemy' of the state's future and charged it with harbouring hatred towards the country, its culture and heritage.

Addressing a well-attended BJP public meeting here, he said the earlier UPA regime, of which the DMK was a key constituent, did little for the development of Kanniyakumari and asserted that development works, including in the road sector, have been fast tracked after the NDA came to power in 2014.

Continuing to be soft towards Tamil Nadu's main opposition AIADMK, he said people knew how the DMK treated late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa and added that such a culture continued even today and that crimes against women were on the rise in the state. He lashed out at the opposition INDIA bloc and said all it had to show was "scams" running to several crores of rupees, and said his party-led NDA had public initiatives as achievements to boast of.

"The history of the DMK and Congress is loot. They want to come to power to loot the people. On one side is the BJP's welfare schemes, on the other (in the INDIA bloc) is the scams of crores of rupees. We gave optical fibre, 5G and other digital initiatives. INDI alliance has 2G scam," he said.

The DMK was the "biggest beneficiary" of the 2G scam, in which party leader and former Telecom Minister A Raja was implicated but later acquitted by a court. While the BJP government constructed airports and have schemes like UDAN to highlight, the INDIA bloc had the chopper "scam which played with national security," he said, and slammed the opposition bloc for other corruption charges like the coal scam. "The list (of scams) is big. This is the reality of INDI alliance," Modi said.

Taking on the ruling party in Tamil Nadu, Modi indicated the DMK did little for the people of the district, despite being in power at the Centre as part of the Congress-led UPA in the past. "DMK is not just an enemy of Tamil Nadu's future, but also of its culture and heritage," he charged.

Modi said the ruling DMK "tried to ban the watching" of the consecration of the Shri Ram Temple in Ayodhya in January this year, apparently referring to some public screenings in Tamil Nadu and added the Supreme Court later pulled up the state government over the matter. "Imagine the hatred they have for our country, its culture, heritage and great men," he said.

Referring to the installation of the "scared Sengol" (Sceptre) in the new Parliament building, Modi said it was done in lines with the Tamil heritage but the "DMK people boycotted that also as they did not like that as well."

The DMK has now resorted to abuses and was thus maligning Tamil Nadu, he added. He further slammed the Congress and the DMK for their 'silence' when the bull taming sport 'jallikattu' was banned earlier. The NDA government paved the way for conducting the sport later, he said and termed it as "Tamil Nadu's pride." "It is Tamil Nadu's identity, culture. Modi will not allow any impediment to this," he said and asserted it was his guarantee.