Launching the BJP’s Assembly election campaign in Coimbatore, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday accused the DMK of promoting a “strongman culture” when in power as its style of governance is based on “bullying and harassment”.
“In every district, its [DMK’s] anti-social elements will trouble innocent citizens,” Mr. Modi said during a public meeting at the CODISSIA Trade Fair Complex grounds.
The women of Tamil Nadu suffered the most due to this culture, he said. “Entire Tamil Nadu knows how the DMK treated Amma Jayalalithaaji. I do not need to repeat it,” he said, adding that leaders who allegedly “troubled” the former Chief Minister were “rewarded by the DMK and Congress”.
Mr. Modi said meetings of the DMK and the Congress were like “corruption hackathons,” where leaders of both parties “brainstormed on how to loot”.
“Those suggesting the most innovative ways are given posts and ministries,” he said. The two Opposition parties suffer from “internal contradictions” and “continuous family drama” and they cannot deliver good governance to the State, he said. While in power, the DMK and the Congress did not “bother” about the demands of the Devendrakula Velalar community, but the AIADMK and BJP governments had accepted the community’s “long-standing demand,” he said. The people of India want “development-oriented governance,” Mr. Modi said, describing the working of the AIADMK and BJP governments at the State and the Centre respectively as “classic examples of cooperative federalism”.
The BJP-led Central government has ensured “a life of prosperity and dignity” to small farmers in the past seven years and has brought a “paradigm shift in agriculture” through Kisan Credit Cards and the National Agriculture Market (eNAM), he said. Small farmers must not “feel suffocated by middlemen,” he said. Mr. Modi particularly highlighted that the minimum support price for copra had nearly doubled in six years.
Applauding the Micro, Small and Medium enterprises (MSME) sector in Coimbatore district, he said ₹14,000 crore had been sanctioned for 3.5 lakh MSMEs in Tamil Nadu, including around 25,000 enterprises in Coimbatore, under the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme.
“India is proud of them,” Mr. Modi said, assuring them that the Central government would be with MSMEs in their efforts. The Government of India has modernised textile infrastructure in seven years and seven textile parks will be set up across the country in three years as announced in the recent Union Budget.
BJP’s State general secretary Raama Sreenivasan translated the speech of the Prime Minister from English to Tamil. Mr. Modi began his speech by saying “Vanakkam Tamil Nadu, vanakkam Coimbatore”, followed by “Vetrivel veeravel”. Prior to his speech, BJP State president L. Murugan presented him with a ‘vel’.