Chennai: Presenting his eighth budget, deputy chief minister and finance minister O Panneerselvam praised the successive Dravidian governments since 1967, including the DMK regimes, saying they had contributed immensely to Tamil Nadu’s development. While the leader did not specifically mention DMK by name, there was a clear political message to the national parties BJP and Congress.
In a rebuff aimed at BJP and its leaders, who have been claiming that the state will soon see the end of the Dravidian era, Panneerselvam praised the successive regimes led by AIADMK and DMK. The contribution of AIADMK founder M G Ramachandran and former chief minister J Jayalalithaa, in taking the state forward in industrial development, came in for special mention.
Panneerselvam was, however, careful to point out that AIADMK ruled the state for the maximum number of years since 1967 and it was only during the regimes of MGR and Jayalalithaa, the state saw maximum progress. The Congress reign in Tamil Nadu ended in 1967 with DMK led by C N Annadurai winning the assembly election that year and assuming charge.
“Certain political critics with myopic vision indulge in fallacious propaganda against the Dravidian rule. They are living under an illusion and day dreaming about destroying the Dravidian movement. To them, I want to send a clear message, that Tamil Nadu has progressed much better than many other states and achieved stupendous progress on various socio-economic fronts during the last fifty years,” said Panneerselvam to empty opposition benches. The DMK members had boycotted the Edappadi K Palaniswami government’s budget presentation.
Dubbing it “unfair” and “unjust” the “huge increase in devolution to other states like Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat”, Panneerselvam said, “It is solely on this ground of unfair treatment meted out to Tamil Nadu that we have been pressing the Centre for an adhoc allocationin the form of special compensation.”
Panneerselvam pointed to the progress made by Tamil Nadu in the fields of health, education and social security, human development index, industrial and economic development or in providing basic amenities to the people.
Panneerselvam reeled out data from Niti Aayog on health, education and other parameters to show that Tamil Nadu was far ahead of several BJP ruled states like Maharashtra, Gujarat and West Bengal.
DMK accepted the grudging praise of the deputy chief minister stoically. “DMK has contributed the maximum to the progress of the state. Our participation at the Centre (nine years of UPA regime) resulted in several projects being allocated to TN,” said former Union minister T R Baalu.
