BJP national secretary H Raja’s goofup while translating his party’s national president Amit Shah’s address to Sakthi Kendrikas came in handy for Fisheries Minister D Jayakumar, who deflected the criticism saying that Raja could have translated wrongly and the saffron party leader had only flayed the DMK and Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam leader TTV Dhinakaran.

Fisheries Minister D Jayakumar addressing reporters in Chennai

Chennai:

Addressing reporters on Tuesday after inspecting the fish market at Saidapet here, the Minister said, “When Amit Shah spoke about micro irrigation, the translator Raja had said it is ‘siruneerpasanam’ (urine irrigation) instead of ‘nunnuyirpasanam’ (micro irrigation). 

Similarly, Shah could have said something good about the AIADMK and Raja had changed it.” The BJP president did not refer to the AIADMK or the state government and he had spoken about corrupt practices in elections. He had flayed the practice of ‘notes for votes’ and the AIADMK had never indulged in such practices. 

The DMK had introduced the ‘Thirumangalam formula’ of notes for votes and AMMK deputy general secretary Dhinakaran had resorted to such methods, Jayakumar said. He also welcomed the judgment of Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court directing CBSE to grant marks for the students who wrote the examination in Tamil since 49 questions were wrong. 

The Minister recalled that he had already flayed the CBSE saying that it was acting in an autocratic manner. He also denied that the Income Tax officials during the raids had seized diaries containing the names of ministers. The AIADMK government had nothing to fear about such raids since it had done nothing wrong. 

The Fisheries Minister also denied use of formalin to preserve fishes in Tamil Nadu. He reasoned when the supply of fish itself is short by about 30 to 40 per 

cent, there is no need for preserving fish. Only when there is a surplus of fish, the need would arise for preservation, he reasoned. 

The Fisheries Department officials had randomly lifted samples of fish from various markets in the city and had conducted tests for the presence of formalin. 

The officials did not find any trace of the chemical on the fish sold in state markets, he asserted. He alleged that rumours were being spread to destroy the livelihood of fishermen. 

The government would work out modalities to test the fish sold in the state and take steps to test the stock arriving from the neighbouring states. The government had the duty to create trust among the people on consuming fish, he added.