Stating that the country will not forget the Gujarat communal riots, DMK president M.K. Stalin on Friday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had no locus standi to criticise the DMK.
Speaking at the Ungal Thogudhiyil Stalin (Stalin in your constituency), the DMK’s poll outreach programme at Theevanur near Tindivanam, Mr. Stalin took strong exception to the Prime Minister attacking the DMK during his poll campaign in Coimbatore.
Referring to Mr. Modi’s charge that the DMK during its tenure had unleashed violence in all the districts and women were the worst affected, Mr. Stalin wanted to know under what basis had Mr. Modi made such unfounded allegations.
“The country has still not forgotten the Gujarat riots in 2002. The BJP had established a record of its machinations and cruelty in 2002. How can Mr. Modi forget this after moving from Gujarat to Delhi,” he asked.
The Prime Minister should abstain from being a motor mouth in making unfounded allegations against the DMK, he said. Does Mr. Modi know about the BJP’s enrolling members in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry including history-sheeters and those with criminal antecedents, he asked? The Prime Minister should order the Central investigation agencies to conduct a thorough check of the antecedents of those who had recently joined the party, he said.
Charging the Prime Minister with being part of the corruption nurtured by Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami and Deputy Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam, Mr. Stalin said that by raising his hand with them, the Prime Minister had shown that he was part of the corrupt administration.
Mr. Stalin also asked whether the Prime Minister had forgotten the cruelty unleashed against the farmers protesting against the three farm laws and also the unleashing of brutal action against those who protested the Citizenship Amendment Act.