BJP alliance is in danger, fake bhakti will not cut ice in TN: Stalin
Chennai, June 26 (UNI) Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK president MK Stalin today charged the BJP with attempting to foment religious polarisation to reap electoral dividend. "Misusing God will not yield political mileage and neither will fake bhakti cut ice in Tamil Nadu," he said.
'They are now misusing God to gain political mileage. They are only worried about religion and not about people. Their propaganda that religion is in danger will not cut ice in Tamil Nadu as the people will reject them,' the Chief Minister said.
Stalin took a dig at the Sangh Parivar which held the conference of Murugan devotees in Madurai on Sunday last. He was speaking at an official event in Mandalavadi in Tirupattur district, where he inaugurated completed developmental works and laid the foundation stone for new projects besides distributing welfare assistance to beneficiaries.
'We raise the issues of recession, slowing down of growth and unemployment. But, what is the mindset of those at the helm in the Union government? They continue to strive to divide and polarise the people of Tamil Nadu on the lines of religion and caste. As they are unable to accomplish this, they take the support of the All India Anna DMK (AIADMK) and are least concerned about the people but only about religion. This is their politics,' said Stalin.
'This is the land of Periyar (rationalist Dravidian icon EV Ramasamy), which was made cultivable by Anna (DMK founder and former Chief Minister CN Annadurai) and raised by Kalaignar (DMK patriarch and former chief minister M Karunanidhi). People of all religions live here in peace and harmony with their rights assured,' said the Chief Minister.
'In the last four years, we have completed the consecration of 3,000 temples, a historic feat, allocated Rs 84 crore for renovation of mosques and churches. This is unpalatable for those engaged in communal politics. Further, they could not stomach the great strides that the government had achieved despite the Union government's discriminatory financial allocation,' said Stalin.
Turning his ire at the AIADMK, he accused the party of having its name after Anna but pledging the leader's name as well as the party (to the BJP). 'The crowd at the helm of the party bearing the name of Anna, remained a mute spectator to the video in which Anna and other Dravidian icons were ridiculed (at the Murugan conference). We should not allow them to pawn Tamil Nadu tomorrow,' he said.
The Murugan conference was organised by the Hindu Munnani, an RSS affiliate, in which apart from BJP leader and Andhra Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister and Jana Sena Party (JSP) president Pawan Kalyan targeted the DMK, painting it as anti- Hindu.
A resolution passed at the conference demanded that the state exit from the administration of temples and it be handed over to the devotees.
A video played at the conference in the presence of AIADMK leaders, lampooning Dravidian icons, has created ripples in the AIADMK-BJP alliance. Stalin and the DMK's allies have used it to create a wedge between the BJP and the AIADMK, turning the alliance tenuous.
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