Lok Sabha polls | Family politics, corruption and an anti-Tamil culture are DMK’s credentials: PM Modi

Prime Minister Modi criticizes DMK for corruption, anti-Tamil culture, and family politics in Vellore public meeting.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday, April 10, 2024, said that family politics, corruption and an anti-Tamil culture were the three major features of the ruling DMK party. The Dravidian party, he claimed, seemed to have a “copyright’’ to indulge in corruption in Tamil Nadu.

Addressing a public meeting at the 16th century granite Fort complex in Vellore town in support of NDA candidates A.C. Shanmugam (Vellore), A. Ashwathaman (Tiruvannamalai), K. Balu (Arakkonam), Ganesh Kumar (Arani), Sowmiya Anbumani (Dharmapuri) and C. Narasimhan (Krishnagiri) for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, Mr. Modi said that these three features had formed the basis of the governance of the Dravidian party all these years. Such an attitude, he said has deprived educated youth in the State of the right opportunities for their upliftment.

“The DMK and its politics are like a family company that blocks development in the State. The time has come for Tamil Nadu to prioritise development. The people of Tamil Nadu have clearly understood that change is imminent,” he said.

Mr. Modi further said, for example, that sand mining had been rampant in the State for the past two years, with the DMK government in power, and sand worth around ₹4,300 crore had been illegally mined in the Vellore region. This loot was also taking place in other parts of the State. “The ruling DMK has gained a lot from the loot (sand smuggling) under its corrupt regime. On other hand, the Centre has given a lot of funds to the State but these have never reached the people of Tamil Nadu,” he said.

Referring to the recent seizure of a huge quantity of drugs in the State by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), the Prime Minister said that such seizures only exposed the vulnerability of children to the drug menace in the State.

The DMK, Mr. Modi said, has been following the principle of ‘divide and rule’, where the Dravidian party simply opposed everything in the name of language, religion, caste and creed. They have been dividing people on these lines to rule the State, he said.

Blaming the Congress and DMK for the sufferings of the Tamil Nadu fishermen, Mr. Modi said the Katchatheevu islet was handed over to the Sri Lankan government by the then Congress government, an act the DMK was party to as well. As a result, Tamil Nadu fishermen were facing hardships with the arrest of their men, the seizure of their boats and the loss of livelihoods. “It is the NDA government at the Centre that has saved the lives of fishermen since 2014 when it came to power. In one instance, five arrested Tamil Nadu fishermen, who were sentenced to death by a Sri Lankan court for trespassing into its territorial waters, were released and brought home safely only due to the Centre’s efforts,” he said.