BJP government’s schemes are meant to cheat people, says Kanimozhi

DMK MP Kanimozhi criticizes BJP schemes as cheating women, opposes three-language policy, and defends Tamil Nadu's culture and language.

Kanimozhi, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam MP, has said that every single scheme implemented by the BJP-led Union government is meant to cheat the people of this country, especially women.

She was at the Kozhikode beach on Sunday to open a women’s meet organised ahead of the inauguration of the renovated office of the District Congress Committee on April 12.

Ms. Kanimozhi asked if the BJP really respected women as they were claiming to be, why was the Union government refusing to even have a discussion on what happened to Manipur’s women. “They want to cheat the women by saying we have brought in 33% reservation for you... They know very well that it will never be implemented because the caste census and the delimitation will have to be completed first. And, many States, including Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Punjab, have gone against delimitation.” She also alleged that every single scheme of the Union government was meant either to take away the rights of the States or to interfere in them.

Ms. Kanimozhi said that the Centre was not releasing funds to States which were opposing the BJP’s philosophy. “Because our Chief Minister will not sign the National Education Policy, which insists on a three-language policy, we have not been getting funds. Tamil Nadu has always been exempted from the policy,” she said.

Ms. Kanimozhi said that Tamil Nadu would not want to lose its language to anybody. “Nobody can force us to learn another language that we don’t want to learn. We don’t want to give up our great culture. We are not less than anybody else. So we don’t accept anything being imposed on us,” she said.

The DMK MP alleged that the BJP’s “Hindu philosophy” was only one that suited its politics. “It has to be a country that understands them. So the entire country should speak Hindi, so that their leaders can communicate, so that their language can be understood. Their Hindutva does not celebrate the beautiful different colours the Hindu philosophy has. It is something alien to us. People of different States don’t understand the kind of Hinduism they are trying to impose on us,” she said. Jebi Mather, MP, and Padmashri Award winner Meenakshi Amma, among others, were present.