Chennai: DMK president M K Stalin on Sunday slammed Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami for alleging that he eyed elections and wielded Lord Muruga’s spear-like weapon of ‘Vel’, and asked if the AIADMK top leader was afraid of his party’s decimation at the hustings.
Days after Palaniswami alleged that Stalin posed with a Vel only to hoodwink the people as polls were round the corner, the DMK chief said the divine symbol was presented to him recently in Tiruttani in northern Tamil Nadu by his party districtsecretary, the people and temple priests.
“Do we say that there should not be belief in God?” he asked in his poll campaign in nearby Tiruvallur district.
Seeking to blunt the AIADMK’s accusation that Vel was noticed by him only due to polls to the Assembly, due in April-May, he said his party was not against any religious beliefs.
For long, the DMK has been accused of slighting Hindu religious beliefs by the BJP and Sangh outfits in Tamil Nadu.
The saffron party also accused the Stalin-led party of backing a fringe group that denigrated ‘Kanda Sashti Kavacham’ in praise of Lord Muruga and the BJP held a ‘Vel’ yatra last yearwhich commenced from Tiruttani.
Stalin quoted a popular dialogue of his father and late party patriarch M Karunanidhi from the 1952 Tamil flick ‘Parasakthi’ which said the stance was not that there should be no temples, but shrines should not become a camp of rogue elements.
“What is Palaniswami’s problem? Why is he afraid of Vel?” he asked adding people were going to decimate the AIADMK democratically and politically.
Besides the ruling party’s decimation, the elections would end the political careers of Palaniswami and Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam, he claimed.
He further said “My criticism against them is not personal. I have no animosity towards them. AIADMK regime is selfish and their politicalactivities are wrong andthat is why I am criticising them.”
The DMK chief said he has taken a pledge to dislodge the AIADMK government and build a bright future for Tamil Nadu.
PTI
