Retired bureaucrat and author B.S. Raghavan dies at the age of 97
“A DMK leader had asked ‘who is he (referring to Tamil Nadu BJP president K. Annamalai)?’ Tamil Nadu will not permit such arrogance.
He (Mr. Annamalai) is a young, former IPS officer from a backward community,” Mr. Modi said. Those in family politics will never allow youngsters to come up in politics, he added.
The Prime Minister said that Mr. Annamalai and Mr. Murugan would be the voice of the local people in Delhi.
The DMK and the Congress had only one aim — speak lies, cheat people and stay in power. Though they said that poverty should be abolished, they never wanted people to come out of it. When the NDA came to power, the party brought 25 crore people out of poverty, he said.
Dynasty politics
“Those in dynasty politics will focus on their heirs coming to power. They do not want the poor to come to power. But, the BJP has made a Scheduled Tribe woman the President,” Mr. Modi said.
“Tamil Nadu is a State with a lot of potential and talent and the textile industry in Coimbatore is very famous. But the DMK government is ignoring this potential, and instead of developing industries, it is crippling investments,” he alleged.
Earlier, the Prime Minister campaigned in Vellore for NDA candidates A.C. Shanmugam (Vellore), A. Ashwathaman (Tiruvannamalai), K. Balu (Arakkonam), Ganesh Kumar (Arani), Sowmiya Anbumani (Dharmapuri) and C. Narasimhan (Krishnagiri),
‘Copyright to indulge in corruption’ Addressing a public meeting at the 16th Century granite fort complex in Vellore on Wednesday, Mr. Modi said that family politics, corruption and an antiTamil culture were the three major features of the ruling DMK. The Dravidian party, he claimed, seemed to have got a “copyright’’ to indulge in corruption in Tamil Nadu, he said.
He also said that it was this attitude of the party that deprived educated youth in the State of the right opportunities for their uplift.
“The DMK and its politics blocked development in the State. The time has come for Tamil Nadu to prioritise development,” he said.
Mr. Modi further said that sand mining was rampant in the State, and sand worth around ₹4,300 crore had been illegally mined in the Vellore region. “The ruling DMK has gained from the loot. On the other hand, the Centre has given a lot of funds to the State but these have never reached the people of Tamil Nadu,” he said.
The DMK, Mr. Modi said, had been following the principle of ‘divide and rule’, where the party simply opposed everything in the name of language, religion, caste and creed.
Mr. Modi said that the Katchatheevu islet was handed over to the Sri Lankan government by the then Congress government, a decision the DMK was party to. As a result, Tamil Nadu fishermen were facing hardships with their arrest, the seizure of their boats and the loss of their livelihood.
Retired bureaucrat, author and columnist B.S. Raghavan died at the age of 97 at his residence in Chennai on Wednesday. He is survived by his daughter.
Mr. Raghavan, who belonged to the West Bengal IAS cadre of 1952, held several senior positions in the governments of West Bengal and Tripura, and retired as West Bengal Chief Secretary.
After his retirement in 1987, he settled in Chennai and contributed to various fields. He was associated with The Hindu Group of Publications for almost two decades as a columnist for BusinessLine. He contributed about 2,800 columns and 120 editorials.
He also contributed articles on current affairs for various Tamil newspapers and magazines. Mr. Raghavan also participated in panel discussions on radio and television channels.
His books include Nehru Muthal Netru Varai’ (Tamil), The Hearts of the Hoomans, and Human Values and Professional Ethics, which he coauthored with Jayshree Suresh. His collection of writings on varied subjects, including political, economic, financial and management issues were also published as