‘Is TN a bird sanctuary for PM to come during election season?’ Stalin queries during the Modi roadshow in Chennai

During his two-day visit to the state, Prime Minister Narendra Modi hosted a roadshow in Chennai on Tuesday as part of his campaign to assist party candidates ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.

On April 19, Tamil Nadu will hold its first round of elections.

Chief Minister MK Stalin has questioned if Tamil Nadu is a bird sanctuary that the Prime Minister should only visit during election season, given that this is Modi’s sixth visit to the state this year (but his first since the announcement of the Lok Sabha elections).

Modi continued to attack the Congress and DMK over the Katchatheevu issue during the roadshow in Chennai. According to him, ceding the island to Sri Lanka demonstrates the two sides’ cooperation in undermining the nation’s strategic objectives.

“Recent public information regarding the Katchatheevu surrender indicates that Congress and DMK were complicit in undermining our strategic interests and the welfare of our fishermen and fisherwomen,” Modi said in his speech. It makes sense that Chennai is prepared to reject the Congress and DMK this time.”

Modi has lately taken aim at the Congress over the government headed by Indira Gandhi’s 1974 surrender of the islet.

He had claimed, based on a media story, that fresh evidence showed the Congress had “callously” given Katchatheevu away to Sri Lanka.

He had also trained his weapons against the DMK.

According to Al Jazeera, many observers think that the BJP’s move to bring up Katchatheevu is only intended to aid it in Tamil Nadu during the election. The BJP is not very strong in this state and did not win any seats in the 2019 election. Tamil Nadu has 39 national seats, each of which has an average of 1.51 million votes.

“The timing of the issue’s raising in the middle of the elections indicates that it was done with the intention of garnering support in Tamil Nadu, where the BJP has yet to establish any presence,” Sudheendra Kulkarni, a columnist and former BJP politician who worked as the Prime Minister’s Office’s director of operations under former BJP Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee from 1999 to 2004, was quoted by Al Jazeera.

Ahead of the Lok Sabha election in Chennai on Tuesday, April 9, 2024, Prime Minister Narendra Modi welcomes fans during a roadshow in favor of Tamilisai Soundararajan, the BJP’s candidate from the South Chennai seat.
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In the meantime, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of using the federal agencies to target the opposition-ruled states while speaking at an election rally in Madurai in support of the DMK candidates and its allies.

In the majority of the nation’s non-BJP-ruled states, state administrations faced difficulties at the hands of federal agencies and even governors.

Stalin said, “This is Modi’s India,” while speaking at an election rally in favor of the DMK candidates and their supporters.

Is the Prime Minister’s visit to Tamil Nadu a bird sanctuary during election season? Why the extreme animosity? Tamils are citizens of this nation, right? Stalin enquired.

He clarified that the DMK was not against Hindus, citing the several projects it has undertaken via the department of Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments.

Stalin, the DMK president, said, “I am proud of the many accomplishments of the Dravidian model of governance in these three years and I am asking for your votes.”