COIMBATORE: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi disrespected Tamil people and that the Centre wanted to suppress Tamil culture, language and history. “But we will never allow such disrespect,’’ Rahul said launching his three-day and five district election campaign in Coimbatore.
Standing atop a campaign van on the arterial Avinashi Road, Rahul said that Modi’s plans of having one culture, one language and one idea would be defeated by Tamil people.
“The Prime Minister believes that India should have only one culture, one language and one idea. Modi believes that people should worship only one person and that should be him. He does not understand the spirit of the Tamil people, culture and language. Tamil people will respond only to love and kindness and respect because Tamils have self-respect,’’ he said.
Rahul said that attempt to supress diverse cultures and language was the fight that was being witnessed, not just in TN, but across India.
Hitting out the ruling AIADMK, he said the state government was compromised. “Just because Modi controls the TN government, he cannot control the Tamil people,’’ Rahul said.
Rahul said that only the people of Tamil Nadu would be determining the future of the state. “Nagpur can never ever determine the future of TN,’’ he said referring to the RSS.
He recalled the association late prime ministers Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi (his grandmother and father) had with Tamil Nadu. Rahul said that the relationship he had with Tamil Nadu was not political, but that of a family bond. “It’s a blood relationship. I have come here as a family member,” he said.
Thanking the people of Tamil Nadu for the love towards his grandmother and father, Rahul said he was indebted to the people for the love.
“Now I have come to help you, I want to make the whole world turn towards Tamil Nadu. I want to bring a government in TN that truly respects farmers, labourers, small industries, students and masses,’’ he said.
Earlier, he interacted with representatives of small industries where he assured that the Congress would restructure the GST once the party comes to power, by changing it to a single slab/minimum tax structure. He then drove to Tirupur, addressing the gathering at two places along the 40 km route. Later in the evening, he would be interacting with industrial workers in the garment hub.