All Opposition parties and mediapersons who questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi, were being jailed or cases were foisted upon them, charged DMK MP Kanimozhi, on Thursday, April 4, 2024.
Campaigning for votes for the Congress candidate for Virudhunagar, B. Manickam Tagore, she said that in order to cripple the election campaign of the Congress party, its bank accounts have been frozen. The Chief Ministers of two State have been jailed. Most of the cases registered in the country under the Modi government were against leaders of Opposition parties. “Even media houses are raided or they are attacked,” she alleged.
People who protest against the government are being arrested, Ms. Kanimozhi said pointing to the farmers protesting the New Farm Laws. “Four of them were run over by the son of a Union Minister,” she said.
Ms. Kanimozhi went on to say: “When two senior citizens opposed a BJP functionary for his attempt to grab their land, they were booked under money laundering cases. This is the case of two poor persons who were dependent on old age pensions.”
The Britishers, Ms. Kanimozhi said, used the ‘divide and rule’ policy for India. The BJP, she said, was following the same policy. “People are losing their rights. Minorities are being targeted with new laws to take away their citizenship,” she charged.
Neglect of T.N.
The BJP was neglecting Tamil Nadu by denying it its rightful funds, including flood relief, Ms. Kanimozhi said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who did not visit Tamil Nadu during the floods, was now frequently visiting the State ahead of the elections.
Taking a dig at BJP State president, K. Annamalai, she said he had claimed to be “a true Kannadiga” in the past, and so, why was he choosing to contest the Parliamentary election from Coimbatore instead of Bengaluru or Mysuru.
All this while, she said the Centre had been imposing Hindi upon the people by even giving replies in Hindi to her letters. “But now the Prime Minister is showing his sudden love for Tamil during the elections. He wants to learn Tamil and his wishes will be fulfilled by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, M.K. Stalin, by sending him a good Tamil teacher. He can learn Tamil after the Lok Sabha elections as he will no longer be the Prime Minister,” she said.
On the INDIA bloc’s promises, she said, the practice of imposing fines on poor people for not maintaining minimum balance in their bank accounts would be stopped. The price of gas cylinders would also be brought down, she said.
The success of the free breakfast scheme introduced by DMK government could be seen in its replication in Canada, she pointed out.
Ms. Kanimozhi also said the shutters of Anaikuttam dam would be replaced soon.
