Shah hits out at Congress, DMK over dynastic politics
At Tamil Nadu rally, home minister targets Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Italian roots’, apologises to the crowd for not delivering his address in Tamil
CHENNAI: Union home minister Amit Shah on Sunday rebutted Rahul Gandhi’s campaign on Tamil identity by taking a jibe on his maternal Italian roots.
“They’re talking about Tamil culture. In our National Education Policy, we have brought in measures where elementary learning will happen in Tamil, regional languages and foreign languages can’t thrive. What connection does Congress have with foreign languages? Congress has to think Tamil or Italian,” Shah said in his Vijay Sankalp rally in Villupuram district.
Shah and Gandhi were both campaigning in Tamil Nadu on Sunday. Gandhi has been consistently campaigning against the RSS-BJP combine as disrespecting the Tamil language, culture and people, which he reiterated in his speeches in Tirunelveli district on Sunday.
Shah apologised to the crowd that he could not deliver his address in Tamil, although it “would have been nice” if he could do so.
“First of all I want to say sorry that I am unable to talk in one of the oldest languages in the country, the sweet one,” Shah said at the Villupuram public meeting.
“Without the great Tamil culture, India’s culture is incomplete,” he added.
Tamil Nadu had given “great people” who have done the country proud globally, Shah said, adding “the country respects Tamil and its culture.” He also referred to Modi’s statement on Sunday about the language.
Pitching for the AIADMK-LED NDA alliance, Shah targeted the Dmk-congress alliance for its dynastic politics and corruption.
“Sonia Gandhi’s worry is to make Rahul Gandhi prime minister somehow. Same way (MK) Stalin wants to make (his son) Udhayanidhi chief minister,” he said.
Shah said the AIADMK-BJP coalition worked like a “double engine” whether it was for military security or directing the country on the right path for economic progress.
“Do you want a government that has the strength of a double engine or a government that works for its own family?” Shah posed a question to the crowd. “Is your vote for Modi’s people welfare schemes or the opposition that works for its family’s welfare?”
“You have to decide in the coming days — whether give the rule to sons and daughters of kings and emperors or vote for development of Tamil Nadu. Whether to make Udhayanidhi the chief minister or (ensure) the (welfare) fishermen,” he said.
Shah said the Centre’s schemes benefited the state. He brought back the 2G spectrum scam and charged the Dmkcongress families of producing two, three and four generations of corruption. “Think of the people inside your home and party,” he adding saying that the DMK speaking on corruption was laughable.
At his Karaikkal public meeting also, Shah regretted that he could not address the crowd in the “great Tamil language.” He also hit out at Gandhi for his recent support to jallikattu, which he witnessed in Madurai in January and said the party’s election manifesto for the 2016 assembly polls batted for a ban against the bull taming sport.
Jallikattu, the famous event held in Madurai during the harvest festival Pongal in January, has an emotional connect with the Tamil people and a major agitation was held in 2017 at the Marina here seeking revoking of an earlier ban against the conduct of the event.
Earlier in the day at a rally in Puducherry, where the Congress government was recently dissolved and is under President’s rule, Shah targeted Gandhi on the issue of the fisheries ministry.
“I don’t know whether he went on tour or was sleeping that he didn’t know in 2019, NDA created a fisheries ministry,” Shah said mocking Gandhi’s foreign trips.
The issue has gone back and forth between the Congress and BJP. A few days ago Gandhi told Puducherry fishermen wondering why there was no separate ministry for them in Delhi. BJP leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi responded by expressing shock of his lack of awareness. Gandhi and his team clarified that there was a difference between a dedicated fisheries ministry from the one functioning as a department.
Shah also said that the Puducherry government fell and Congress MLAS joined the BJP because of former chief minister V Narayansamy lying to his partymen just like he lied to Gandhi referring to a video clip of a wrong translation.
Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Sunday said the BJP will not be able to purchase MLAS in the state. When DMK comes to power, BJP cannot buy MLAS; people will be outraged. This is Tamil Nadu not Goa, he told reporters in Sivagangai district.
Shah will hold seat sharing consultations with the AIADMK leadership in Chennai Sunday night.
A senior BJP leader not wishing to be named said they desired to contest in at least 25 seats but will pitch for more. A day ago, AIADMK allotted 23 seats to ally PMK.
NEW DELHI: The Central Bureau of Investigation has identified 10 more survivors of alleged child sexual abuse by suspended Uttar Pradesh Irrigation department junior engineer Ram Bhuwan. The alleged paedophile is also accused of selling the illicit acts with kids on the dark web, officials said.
Further expanding its exhaustive probe, the central probe agency recorded the statement of these 10 male victims to buttress its charges against Bhuwan who was arrested along with his wife and a suspected accomplice, they said. The person arrested from the national capital, whose identity is being kept secret by the CBI, is understood to be an important link in unravelling the mystery of the 50-year old junior engineer using the dark web to sell child sexual abuse material, they said.
The agency team has so far identified around 35 victims and is in the process of identifying others, they said. The CBI is also working on deciphering digital evidence from recoveries made during searches at the premises of Bhuwan and his suspected accomplice, they said. The agency had recently filed its charge sheet before a special court in Banda in which the CBI had presented statements of about 25 victims, all males between the age of 4-22 years, and the reports of digital evidence collected during searches. The JE was arrested on November 16, 2020 while his wife was taken into custody on December 28, 2020, they said.