Must learn from Manmohan Singh on respecting rights of states, says DMK's A Raja

CHENNAI: Paying rich tributes to former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who died on Thursday, DMK deputy general secretary A Raja on Saturday said that the former PM was the reason for many development projects being allotted to Tamil Nadu and one must learn a lesson from Dr Singh on respecting the rights of the states and the people while in power.

Stating that Dr Singh was the reason for many development projects being allocated to Tamil Nadu in the two tenures of the UPA (United Progressive Alliance), Raja took a veiled dig at the Modi regime by quoting the lines of Poet Avvaiyar on a learned person helming the regime and saying, “Manmohan Singh ran a government, respecting the rights of states and the people. We must learn a lesson from him. History will always remember him.”

Pointing out that as many as 21 Tamils from DMK among the parties had served as union ministers, including 8 Cabinet ministers in the 10-year reign of MMS as Prime Minister from 2004-14, the DMK deputy general secretary said, “Tamils were dominant in the Cabinet of Dr Singh. One can understand the significance of the great ‘achievement’ if one were to consider the position of Tamils in Modi’s Cabinet.”

Raja also listed out the various central schemes/projects sanctioned for Tamil Nadu during the UPA tenures, mainly the declaration of Tamil as a classical language, major bridge projects, Salem Railway Division, National Siddha Research Institute in Tambaram, Central University in Tiruvarur, increasing telecom penetration from 32 to 80%, Chennai Port–Maduravoyal elevated corridor project and Chennai Metro Rail project as the result of the intervention of MMS. He also reiterated that the performance of the DMK MPs in the just concluded Parliament session was proof of their capability.

Recalling the criticism of the opposition that the 40 MPs of the DMK alliance would only eat vada in the Parliament, the DMK deputy general secretary said, “Half-baked politicians neither know what happened last month or achievements of the past. The projects implemented during the MMS regime are proof of the extent of good deeds that could be done when Tamil Nadu MPs feature in the union government and when a union government respecting the states is formed at the Centre.”