Amit Shah criticizes Oppn Alliance INDIA and claims that a name change won’t change anything

Amit Shah, the Union Home Minister, criticized the Congress and its partners, including the DMK, on Friday, claiming that changing the name of their coalition to INDIA would accomplish nothing.

Prior to the beginning of Tamil Nadu BJP President K Annamalai’s state-wide “En Mann, En Makkal (My Land, My People)” padayatra, the senior BJP leader was speaking at a gathering in this location.

According to Shah, corruption totaled Rs 12 lakh crore during the UPA government’s ten years in office, thus changing the alliance’s name now won’t change anything.

The public “would remember the corruption” when Congress and its supporters, including the DMK, canvass the populace for votes, he said.

The UPA administration, according to him, would be remembered for the 2G Spectrum, CommonWealth Games, and coal allocation frauds. In addition to the “Submarine scam” and “ISRO scam,” he also referenced the “chopper scandal.” He said, “Is Kashmir ours or not? Congress-DMK and allies opposed the abolition of Art 370. Isn’t it necessary to rid the country of terrorism? The UPA people rejected Modi’s surgical and aerial assaults. Continuing Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s presentation in Tamil, he said that by including the “sengol” into the new parliament building, Modi honored Tamil culture. Through a variety of channels, Modi introduced the Tamil language, culture, and leaders’ ideas to the globe. He is the first person to “speak the Tamil language in the United Nations.” He said that Tamil fisherman suffered as a result of the Sri Lankan murder of Tamils that took place during the Congress-DMK regime.

Shah said, “Annamalai will establish Modi’s nationalism through the yatra in place of regionalism.”

The federal minister said that India’s G20 tagline, “Entire World is One,” was taken from Tamil Nadu’s culture. He also remembered that the prime minister had declared during his trip to France that a monument of the saint-poet Tiruvalluvar would be built.

Along with promoting programs like Kashi Tamil Sangamam and Tamil Saurashtra Sangamam from the union government, he also emphasized humanitarian activities for Tamils in Sri Lanka.

The BJP yatra, according to Shah, is an effort to bring in politics of development and good administration in Tamil Nadu. He also attacked the DMK government, calling it the most corrupt in the country. From Kashmir to Kanyakumari and from Kolkata to Somnath, the Tamil culture is being transported throughout this yatra. Shah said that the DMK administration was a “anti-poor government” and that it was a “government of illegal wine mafia, sand mafia, and Tamil Nadu electricity generation and distribution scam.” He accused the DMK, Trinamool Congress, and Shiv Sena (UBT), among others, of working with the Congress and its supporters to strengthen their families. He said that they had no interest in the advancement of the country.

“Sonia Gandhi wants to make her son Rahul the prime minister, while M K Stalin wants to make his son Udhayanidhi the chief minister.” The senior BJP official also criticized other politicians for wanting to see their successors take over, including Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray, RJD leader Lalu Prasad Yadav, and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

But he said, “Modi is the sole leader fighting for the prosperity of the country. The senior BJP official said that throughout his nine years in office, Modi had replaced regionalism, casteism, and family politics with a politics of performance.

Shah brought up the topic of a DMK politician who was arrested but is still serving as a minister in Tamil Nadu. The union minister stated that Stalin should be humiliated for keeping V Senthil Balaji, who was jailed after being apprehended by the Enforcement Directorate, in the cabinet.

He questioned, “Can a person in jail continue to be a minister.” Senthil Balaji should have resigned, right? Stalin would not accept Senthil Balaji’s resignation, even if he offers it, for fear of all his secrets being revealed. Stalin made more than 500 pledges during the 2021 assembly election, but Shah said that instead of keeping his word, Stalin drenched all of Tamil Nadu in the alcohol trade.

“It is a yatra to free Tamil Nadu of dynastic and corrupt politics and start an era of development and pro-poor initiatives,” the senior BJP leader said after Annamalai started off the “En Mann, En Makkal” padayatra. The party members cheered as the union minister lifted Annamalai’s hand while holding hers.

Annamalai will cover 10,000 kilometers in a car and 700 kilometers on foot.

The staging set up for the padayatra’s debut was modeled like the recently built Parliament building.

The BJP’s electoral campaign for the 2024 Lok Sabha election officially begins with the six-month-long yatra. All 234 of the state’s assembly districts will be covered by the yatra.

In his speech, Annamalai compared the yatra to a ‘yagna’ to inform the public about the welfare programs of the BJP-led Centre under PM Modi’s leadership and the “never-seen-before” financial allocations by the Centre to Tamil Nadu.

The Prime Minister Modi’s leadership was commended by Annamalai, who also said that Modi is a “ordinary man who made all Indians proud through his work” and that this is the rule of “common men.”

“Modi is a Tamilian at heart, and he has made Tamilians proud world over and taken Tamil culture and Tamil classic Tirukkural across the world, which echoed in the United Nations as well,” Annamalai said.

Edappadi K. Palaniswami, the general secretary of the AIADMK and the leader of the opposition in Tamil Nadu, declined the invitation from the BJP to attend the padayatra inauguration ceremony.

Defining Amit Shah as the “Iron Man of India” and praising Annamalai as “Karumbu Manithar” (sweet like sugarcane), former minister and senior AIADMK leader R B Udhayakumar spoke on behalf of his party.

Udhayakumar remarked, “I’ve come here to send wishes from Edappadi K Palaniswami, the Iron Man of Tamil Nadu.

The late party matriarch J Jayalalithaa was highly respected by both PM Modi and Amit Shah, according to the AIADMK leader.

Prior to the 2021 Assembly election, L Murugan, Annamalai’s predecessor in the party and a current union minister, undertook the “Vel Yatra” (Vel alludes to the spear, the weapon of Lord Muruga). After an absence of around 20 years, four BJP leaders who won in the assembly elections were elected.

While the BJP’s Vel yatra started in 2020 from Tiruttani, a well-known temple town in northern Tamil Nadu, the current yatra is from Rameswaram, and Prime Minister Modi has hailed its historic connection to Kashi (Kashi Tamil Sangamam).

Annamalai’s yatra comes in the wake of the publication of two so-called “files” on the DMK, the party in power, which the leaders of the Dravidian party denounced as fake and slanderous.

Participating at the rally were leaders of the other BJP coalition parties, including G K Vasan (Tamil Maanila Congress-Moopanar) and K Krishnasamy (Puthiya Tamilagam). P Sudhakar Reddy and CT Ravi from the BJP were also in attendance.