BJP anti-Tamil, alliance is electoral adjustment, says Ponnaiyan

CHENNAI: Cracks are appearing in the opposition alliance, with senior AIADMK leaders criticising the BJP for projecting itself as the alternative for the ruling DMK. However, State BJP president K Annamalai downplayed the criticism stating that these were individual opinions and not that of the principal opposition party.

The first one to fire the salvo was senior leader C Ponnaiyan, who said the BJP would never be able to grow in the State because it was anti-Tamil, citing Hindi imposition and NEET among other reasons. Echoing him, another senior leader D Jayakumar said the people of Tamil Nadu would not accept national parties, whether Congress or BJP. While it is natural for parties to have the ambition to capture power, the decision was that of the people, he added.

The BJP’s key ally in Tamil Nadu, the AIADMK on Wednesday slammed the saffron party alleging that it is anti-Tamil and claimed that the party could never grow in the state.

The alliance with the BJP was merely an ‘electoral adjustment’ and the national party’s ideology is diametrically opposite to that of the AIADMK, veteran party leader C Ponnaiyan said.

Ponnaiyan alleged that the BJP is continuously ‘imposing’ Hindi despite AIADMK’s stiff opposition all along. “The imposition of Hindi is many times more than what it was during the Congress-led governments at the Centre,” he said. “We firmly stand by the 2-language policy of Tamil and English.”

Ponnaiyan, a founding member of the AIADMK, is the party’s organisation secretary and a senior spokesperson. A former Minister during the previous AIADMK regimes, he was part of the Cabinet led by both party founder MG Ramachandran and late leader J Jayalalithaa.

He said the AIADMK is opposed to the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test for medical admissions. The BJP, however, is ‘forcing’ the test on Tamil Nadu and this has led to a scenario of ‘students from northern states,’ taking away a chunk of seats in medical colleges in the state, he alleged.

While ‘state autonomy’ is a fundamental principle of his party, the former minister said the BJP-led Centre has reduced state governments to the level of a ‘village panchayat’ by taking away the rights of states like those related to taxation. Pointing to the Supreme Court judgment on Cauvery river water issue and inter-state river water matters like Mullaiperiyar, he condemned what he termed the BJP’s ‘step-motherly’ treatment towards Tamil Nadu.

Accusing the BJP of ‘actively siding with’ the Sri Lankan ‘Rajapakse’ government that was ‘behind the killings’ of 1.5 lakh Tamils in the 2009 war in the island nation between the now defunct LTTE and the Army, he said the Tamil families affected by war were yet to get due relief. Also, the Tamil people have not been empowered with equal rights and opportunities.

Ponnaiyan said AIADMK firmly stood for the rights of the Tamils in Sri Lanka, which includes equal employment opportunities, land rights and due respect and recognition for the Tamil language. “We do not accept the BJP’s anti-Tamil race, anti-Tamil language sentiments (stand).”

On May 31 Ponnaiyan had said that the BJP’s growth would not augur well for the AIADMK, the state and the Dravidian policies.

It was the first, open criticism by an AIADMK leader against the BJP.