Hindustan Times ST (Mumbai) - HT Navi Mumbai Live
‘Modi thinks he is the PM of only Hindi heartland’
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) chief, 68, will contest the Tamil Nadu assembly elections on April 6. While he has been in the electoral fray for decades, this is the first time he will contest as the party’s chief ministerial candidate, bearing the legacy of the Dravidian party after the demise of his father M Karunanidhi in 2018. As he prepares for his biggest battle, Stalin speaks to about his political beliefs and the current electoral situation. Edited excerpts:
Whether in power or in the Opposition, I have learnt to work for the welfare of people. It is because the DMK is a party that is always with the people in their joy and sorrow. The DMK was launched not only for power but essentially for social empowerment of the deprived class and the downtrodden in society... demeaning cooperative federalism and is in a hurry to usurp the power of states. The State List and Concurrent List, which are part of the Constitution, are under constant threat under the BJP regime at the Centre.
As far as Tamil Nadu is concerned, they used the AIADMK only to communalise the otherwise communally harmonious land of Tamil Nadu. No infrastructure projects have been implemented... The AIIMS at Madurai, announced six years back, is still a non-starter...
DMK is the family of cadres because they are committed to the noblest Dravidian ideology. When you are wedded to one particular ideology, that too for the upliftment of the people and development of the state, you cannot expect people to switch over to a different party and a different ideology. Adopting a father’s or a father’s party ideology cannot be termed as dynasty politics. Just because he is my son, I cannot compel him to adopt a different ideology...
Neither me nor any one else in the party can groom their sons in politics just because they are in the DMK. For growing in the DMK, one has to work hard, reach out to the people and fight for the state’s welfare. The AIADMK and BJP’s criticism is born out of frustration, aimed to hide their corrupt and communal alliance...