DMK president M.K. Stalin on Wednesday said an economic slowdown and a fall in the growth rate were the achievements of the Narendra Modi-led BJP government at the Centre, 100 days into his second term as Prime Minister.
Addressing mediapersons after paying homage to Dalit leader Immanuel Sekaran on the occasion of his death anniversary, he said the Modi government had nothing to celebrate or boast about, as the country’s economy had nosedived and its growth rate had fallen below 5%.
When asked about the demand for declaring the birth and death anniversary of Immanuel Sekaran as official events, Mr. Stalin said the question should be posed to those who were in power. When it was pointed out that the demand had been made even during the erstwhile DMK regime, he said he hoped his party would come back to power to fulfil the demand.
Paying glowing tributes to Immanuel Sekaran, he said the Dalit leader was at the forefront of the fight against untouchability in the 1950s, and had organised the Untouchability Eradication Conference as early as in 1954.
‘Eighth wonder’
Earlier, Revenue Minister R.B. Udhayakumar, after paying homage to the late leader, rejected Mr. Stalin’s demand for a White Paper on Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami’s recent foreign visit. On returning from his trip to the U.K., the U.S. and the Emirates, the CM had said the State government had signed 41 MoUs, bringing in investments to the tune of ₹8,300 crore with the expectation that they would generate 37,300 jobs.
The foreign trip was a grand success, and Mr. Palaniswami had emerged as the “eighth wonder of the world”, the Minister said, and claimed that the DMK was jealous as it had not been able to bring in such investment when it was in power.
AMMK leader T.T.V Dhinakaran, who also paid homage to Immanuel Sekaran, said that if the ruling party had nothing to hide, it should come forward and present a White Paper on the CM’s foreign tour.
He said those who were leaving his party were doing so with a selfish motive, and that their exit will not cause any setback to the AMMK.
