Chennai: Chief minister M K Stalin on Wednesday asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to focus on developing India and not Hindi.
At a public meeting held in Tiruvallur to condemn BJP govt at the Centre for “Hindi imposition”, Stalin said, “I have a request for Modi. Focus on developing India rather than developing Hindi. No matter how many thousands of crores of rupees are spent, Sanskrit cannot be developed. You will spend billions to promote a language that is not spoken by people. Will you betray our Tamil language, which is spoken by people in many countries around the world?”
Stalin raised a series of questions on development the country achieved in the past 10 years under Modi govt.
“What happened to your GDP? You said the country will grow by 6.8% in the third quarter of the current financial year between Oct and Dec, but the actual growth was just 6.2%. The value of the Indian rupee against the US dollar slumped too low. In 2014, the value of the Indian rupee against the US dollar was 58.47, but this year it went to 87.99. Is this India’s growth,” Stalin asked.
Quoting the remarks of US president Donald Trump that India agreed to cut tariffs “way down”, Stalin asked, “Isn’t this a shame? Is this the respect India gets? What steps have you taken to enhance the image of India?”
Stalin accused BJP govt at the Centre of continuing to instigate riots in Manipur. “Manipur has been burning for two years. More than 250 people died. The BJP govt did not take any step to prevent this violence,” Stalin said.
The CM said even the smallest of nations, such as Sri Lanka, does not respect Modi. “When Modi came to power, he said that no fishermen would be arrested, but in the past 10 years, 3,000 fishermen were arrested. Even a small country like Sri Lanka does not respect you. Such is your pathetic condition, and this is why India is descending into an abyss,” Stalin said.
Hitting out at Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan for his comments on INDIA bloc MPs from TN, Stalin asked, “Is it the work of civilised people to collect taxes from our state and then let us starve? Is it civilised to allocate funds for Sanskrit instead of Tamil while saying ‘I like Tamil’?”
