Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav.
Credit: PTI Photo
Chennai/Patna: A video clip of an alleged derogatory remark made months ago by DMK Lok Sabha MP Dayanidhi Maran on workers hailing from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar was widely circulated on social media on Sunday, which led to a war of words between the BJP and Tamil Nadu's ruling Dravidian party.
The alleged remark that people from the Hindi heartland were constructing houses, cleaning roads and toilets in Tamil Nadu was condemned by Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav, whose party, the RJD, like the DMK, is a constituent of the I.N.D.I.A bloc.
The RJD leader condemning Maran's comment assumes significance in the wake of the BJP questioning the 'silence' of parties that constitute the opposition alliance.The DMK has slammed the BJP for spreading 'falsehood,' asserting that Maran only stressed on learning the English language.
Yadav said, like his party, the RJD, the DMK headed by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin, was a party that believed in social justice and it was unbecoming of a leader of such a party to have made such a remark.
"We look upon DMK as a party which shares our ideal of social justice. Its leaders should avoid saying things that run counter to the ideal", said Yadav, who is known to share personal equations with Stalin.
Addressing an event in March this year, Maran said that study of both Tamil and English had been championed by his party all along and the people of Tamil Nadu followed it.
Citing the example of Sundar Pichai, a native of Tamil Nadu, Maran said he now heads Google and had he learnt Hindi, he would have been employed in the construction sector as a worker.
Since children from Tamil Nadu get educated and learn English well, they find employment in the Information Technology sector and earn good salaries.
In the video clip, Maran purportedly said that people in the states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar who had learnt 'only Hindi,' construct houses, clean roads and toilets in Tamil Nadu, after learning Tamil. "This is the scenario if Hindi is learnt."
The video clip showing Maran's alleged remark resurfaced on social media and the BJP said that the DMK MP's comment is very objectionable and has derogatory references to Hindi-speaking people. The reason for the matter cropping up now is not clear and it could not be ascertained immediately.
In a post on 'X', BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla said that this has become a habit of the DMK 'for sure'. Many leaders one after the other make such comments and earlier they attacked Sanatan Dharma too. Further, he said: "But the reason why Congress party and other parties of INDIA alliance are not saying anything is because, perhaps, they are all in it together."
Tamil Nadu BJP vice-president Naryananan Thirupathy said, though it was an old remark, it shows the 'true colours' of DMK leaders who use abusive and derogatory language against north Indians.
"It is not a matter of surprise at all. It is happening now, in the present. It has also happened in the past. The DMK will continue it in the future as well," he said.
Tejashwi Yadav said: "Had the DMK MP highlighted caste iniquities, had he pointed out that only people from some social groups took up such hazardous jobs, it would have made sense," said the RJD leader.
"But to speak disparagingly of the entire populace of Bihar and UP is reprehensible. We condemn it. We believe that people should be respectful towards those coming from other parts of the country," asserted Yadav.
DMK spokesperson J Constandine Ravindran condemned BJP functionaries for deliberately spreading 'falsehood.' He told PTI: "DMK is fully committed to an egalitarian society. No particular state like Tamil Nadu is superior. No other state like Uttar Pradesh or Bihar is inferior. The mala fide intent of the BJP people is evident as they are claiming something that Dayanidhi Maran never said or meant."
The substance of Maran's speech is all about opportunities available to a person, when she or he, in addition to mother tongue, also learnt the English language well, he said.
Career opportunities that open up to a person with an English language background are more, not only in India but also elsewhere in the world and this is the crux of Maran's remarks made months ago, Ravindran added.
The ruling Mahagathbandhan in Bihar, of which the RJD is the largest constituent, and the DMK-helmed Secular Progressive Alliance, are now part of the I.N.D.I.A coalition.