Tearing into Amit Shah for flying to Tamil Nadu to launch a padayatra by state BJP chief K Annamalai, DMK President M K Stalin on Saturday mocked the walkathon as nothing but an attempt to “seek forgiveness” for the “sins committed in Gujarat and Manipur” in the run-up to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
In what seemed like a point-by-point rebuttal to Shah’s speech at the launch of the yatra in Rameswaram on Friday, Stalin also sought to know why the Union Minister hasn’t mustered the courage to organise a “peace yatra” in Manipur, which has been “burning” for the past two months.
“Amit Shah came to Tamil Nadu. We will see more such visits by Union Ministers as elections are approaching. Did Amit Shah come to announce a new project or inaugurate already-announced AIIMS Hospital in Madurai? He came to launch a padayatra. It is not a padayatra but a yatra to seek forgiveness for the sins committed in Gujarat and Manipur,” Stalin said.
Shah, in his address on Friday, launched an all-round attack on the DMK, saying the party’s only goal was to make Udhayanidhi, Stalin’s son, the Chief Minister.
Devoting a significant portion of his speech at a meeting of the DMK Youth Wing here, Stalin also alleged that Shah and the BJP are hoping for “riots” in Tamil Nadu and asked them to stop branding the Dravidian outfit as a “dynastic party” as people are already “tired” of hearing the same criticism over the years.
Also Read | Amit Shah slams Opposition alliance I.N.D.I.A, says nothing will happen by change in name
“Doesn’t the BJP have heirs of political leaders in positions? Will all of them resign tomorrow? If I start reading the list state-wise, it will take an hour. So, please talk something else, Mr Amit Shah,” the Chief Minister said, and asked the Union Minister to “introspect” before criticising him for retaining arrested minister V Senthil Balaji in the Council of Ministers.
Stalin sought to know whether Shah will muster the courage to ask Prime Minister Narendra Modi why he has given berths to people who have been convicted by courts in his Cabinet. “Everyone knows that the BJP uses investigating agencies as washing machines. The country knows the BJP’s trick of threatening its political enemies through agencies and converting them into clean politicians once they join the party,” the DMK chief alleged.
On Shah’s comments on the fishermen issue, Stalin said the BJP which invited the then Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa for Modi’s swearing-in in 2014 despite protests, has no “moral right” to criticise the DMK and Congress.
“When fishermen were attacked by the Sri Lankan Navy during the UPA rule, Modi had promised to solve the issue. In 2017, a fisherman from Rameswaram was killed and didn’t you rule the country then? Moreover, the Prime Minister had earlier this year said 1,600 fishermen have been released during his rule. Is he accepting that 1,600 fishermen were arrested during his rule?” he asked.
Udhayanidhi also hit back at Shah seeking to know how his son Jay Shah became the secretary of the BCCI. “I was elected by the people as a MLA. But how did Jay Shah become secretary of BCCI? Did he play for the country?” Udhayanidhi asked.