CHENNAI: In his first podcast, Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin on Monday pitched the coalition of 28 opposition parties, the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance, or INDIA, bloc as the solution to many problems facing the country, accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of spreading hatred and insisted that the bloc must win the next general elections to ensure the country doesn’t turn into Manipur and Haryana.
Stalin also launched a sharp attack on the central government, saying the Centre was operating as a “vengeful body primed against state governments run by opposition parties”. “They only want to destroy the sovereignty of the state governments, which are directly responsible for the welfare of the people,” he said.
Stalin said the BJP was using religion as a weapon to hide all their shortcomings, “inciting the fire of religious sentiments of people and basking in the warmth of its fiery flames”. Stalin, who heads the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) which is a part of the Opposition bloc, blamed the BJP and its politics for the continuing violence in Manipur for more than three months and last month’s clashes in Haryana’s Nuh district.
“The BJP is trying to damage the basic structure of India, and destroy the sense of unity that Indians have cherished and protected for so long,” he said, insisting that the it was the INDIA bloc that was going to save India.
Stalin accused the BJP-led Union government of destroying the country’s social justice, secular politics, social harmony, state autonomy and federalism. “If we want to prevent the whole of India from becoming Manipur and Haryana, which, unfortunately, fell victim to BJP’s communal politics, and hate-inciting policies, the INDIA alliance must win,” Stalin said in his podcast ”Speaking for India” as he reminded people about the 2002 riots in Gujarat under the BJP’s watch.
“The purpose of this podcast series is that I… as someone who is one among you, want to speak for India,” said Stalin. “The Narendra Modi model, which came to power after lying about the Gujarat model, is now going to end with no significant model to call their own. It has become a rudderless model, and there are no tall claims about the once-famous Gujarat model either, especially after we listed the achievements of the Dravidian model in Tamil Nadu with statistical proof.”
Stalin said the BJP, which formed the Union government in 2014, has failed to deliver on its election promises such as recovering black money in foreign countries and doubling farm income. “It is soon going to be ten years of the BJP governance, and none of those promises have been fulfilled,” Stalin said.
Tamil Nadu BJP president K Annamalai hit back at the chief minister, declaring that it was the chief chief minister and his son who were promoting religious hatred.
“Corrupt DMK is responsible for transforming TN into a lawless state,” Annamalai said in a post on X, formerly Twitter. “While Thiru @mkstalin and his son are busy promoting religious hatred, the state continues to pay the price for electing this corrupt dynast,” he said, a reference to Udhayanidhi Stalin’s statement on eradicating Sanatana Dharma (a set of duties and way of living as proscribed in the Hindu religion) to establish social justice and equality. On Sunday, Union home minister Amit Shah reacted to Udhayanidhi Stalin’s statement in Rajasthan. “The Opposition alliance has been insulting ‘Sanatana Dharma’. Leaders of the DMK and Congress are talking about ending Sanatana Dharma just for votebank politics. This is not the first time they have insulted our Sanatana Dharma,” Shah said at a rally in poll-bound Rajasthan.
