DMK govt is Periyar, Anna and Kalaignar's govt: Stalin at Assembly

CHENNAI: Chief Minister MK Stalin, who was provoked over the comments of AIADMK MLAs, said that the ongoing DMK government is the "government of Periyar, government created by Anna, government on the path of Kalaignar and to sum up it is the Dravidian model government".

AIADMK MLA and former Minister Natham R Viswanathan, in the debate on demand for grants, said that in a secular country governments should not be inclined towards anyone's religion and asked Stalin to clarify that his principles do not get reflected in the HR &CE department. Viswanathan also asked Stalin why is he selective in extending wishes for religious festivals and why is he not extending wishes for Deepavali.

Stalin replied that the name of their alliance is secular progressive alliance and they faced the election putting forward the same principles and even the government is functioning on secular lines. There has been a planned attempt to paint the DMK government as opposed to spirituality and even Viswanathan is trying to portray the same image on the government in the Assembly.

PWD Minister EV Velu replied that it is the personal wish of the Chief Minister to extend wishes for a religious festival and to participate in a religious festival. Viswanathan then questioned that if Stalin is the Chief Minister for all the religions he should extend wishes for all the religions. Even leader of Opposition Edappadi K Palaniswami echoed the same views in the Assembly.

HR&CE Minister Sekar Babu, then replied that no one can influence or speak about the wishes extended by the Chief Minister for religious festivals. "All religions are the same for the Chief Minister. There was no single foul comment made by the Chief Minister about any religion. The comments, passed by AIADMK, shows that they are with people who are politicizing religion," said Sekar Babu.