2 months ago
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PMK person Anbumani Ramadoss charged that Chief Minister M.K. Stalin was being influenced by a coterie of Ministers and the DMK was moving distant from its archetypal principles. He besides raised concerns astir the instrumentality and bid concern successful the State, successful a speech with journalists at The Hindu office. Edited excerpts:
Since 2019, you person mostly been with the NDA. You person been with either the AIADMK oregon the BJP. You person been severely captious of the DMK and its confederation contempt sharing respective ideological positions. Why?
The DMK has forgotten its ideology and has moved acold distant from its principles. In 1967, it came to powerfulness riding the question of the anti-Hindi agitations, hijacking the pupil movement. However, Tamil Nadu is the lone State successful India wherever 1 tin get a grade without learning the parent tongue. In Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, you can’t get a grade [without knowing your parent tongue]. When the DMK was a number authorities successful 2006, we urged them to marque Tamil a compulsory language. They passed a Bill. A lawsuit against it is inactive pending successful the Supreme Court. Whenever determination is simply a corruption complaint against them oregon erstwhile the Enforcement Directorate hounds them, the DMK instantly hires apical lawyers and goes to the Supreme Court. Why can’t they bash that for this Tamil issue?
What is the value of caste census/survey and wherefore is the DMK hesitant to motorboat one?
We are not calling it a “caste census” anymore. We volition beryllium calling it the “social justice” census, arsenic galore consciousness uneasy erstwhile we usage the connection caste. The caste census by the Centre is conscionable a headcount; you can’t bring successful immoderate programmes with conscionable a headcount. The societal backwardness of communities tin beryllium ascertained lone by the State government. For instance, Telangana’s caste survey enactment distant 75 questions. And successful Bihar, they recovered retired that 94 lakh families had an income of little than ₹6,000 per month, and consequently, implemented societal payment schemes. If I were the Chief Minister, I would, successful the archetypal 3 months, find retired however my radical are and recognize their social, educational, and economical presumption astatine a micro-level successful Tamil Nadu. This information volition fast-track the improvement of Tamil Nadu.
Have you discussed the caste census with your confederation enactment person Edappadi K. Palaniswami? Is helium connected committee with this idea?
Absolutely. As parties, we person our own ideologies. We person differences of sentiment with the BJP connected NEET, and truthful on. [Nevertheless], we volition persevere connected this subject. We person talked to him (Mr. Palaniswami) and told him that a bully head should instrumentality up these issues.
Did you person a speech with Chief Minister M.K. Stalin regarding this?
I met the Chief Minister 4 to 5 times personally. He said we could bash it, but eventually, the coterie of 4 Ministers astir him didn’t fto it happen. Today, you person information astir however galore birds migrate from Serbia, Russia, and China to Vedanthangal each year. You person information connected the fig of stray dogs. But, you don’t person information astir the societal issues faced by the radical of Tamil Nadu.
A decennary ago, you were a bitter professional of past Chief Minister Mr. Palaniswami. Today, you backmost him to go the adjacent Chief Minister. What is your appraisal of Mr. Palaniswami?
Our one-point docket is to dethrone the DMK. And for that, each like-minded parties, though with antithetic ideologies, person travel together. Mr. Palaniswami is simply a husbandman and my enactment is simply a 90% agrarian party. They are farmers and toilers – not workplace owners, but labourers. We took up issues during his tenure – among them is the request to state the Cauvery delta as Padhukagappatta Velan Mandalam (Protected Agricultural Zone), a connection that I coined successful 2015-16. I met Mr. Palaniswami 10 times conscionable for this. After me, the Communists picked it up. Consequently, helium (Mr. Palaniswami) passed a instrumentality [the Tamil Nadu Protected Agricultural Zone Development Act, 2020]. When helium was the Chief Minister, Mr. Palaniswami provided 10.5% interior preservation to the Vanniyar community, for which we had been warring for a precise agelong time.
The PMK was astatine the highest of its powerfulness earlier 2011. You were a portion of the Union government, and the enactment besides had galore MLAs. In the past decade-and-a-half, however, the enactment has struggled. How bash you measure its travel during this period?
We person made mistakes successful the past, 1 of which was committed successful 2013. After the conference we had in Mahabalipuram, determination were a batch of issues [Marakkanam violence]... When we accidental the PMK is for societal justice, it includes each assemblage – SCs, STs, OBCs, MBCs. What has Mr. Stalin done for the SCs successful the past 5 years? We gave a Union Minister’s station to Dalit Ezhilmalai successful 1998 itself.
