The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and President of the DMK, MK Stalin today asserted in the podcast episode, which was broadcast this morning and is available in four languages—Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Hindi—that the BJP failed to keep any election-related promises on social welfare during its nine years in power.
Immediately after the podcast, Stalin came under fire today from the Bharatiya Janata Party for criticising Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the first episode of his podcast series. The party asserted that claims in the podcast are “lies” and disputed PM Modi’s claim that 15 lakh would be placed in everyone’s accounts.
In a full-scale attack on the BJP-led Centre, the Chief Minister said that despite promises, not all residents’ accounts were credited with the promised Rs. 15 lakh each, farmers’ earnings did not quadruple, and two crore jobs per year were promised but never materialised.
In reference to the widespread ethnic violence that has been occurring in the state of Manipur since May of this year and the recent communal unrest that broke out in Haryana after a religious procession was attacked, Mr. Stalin stressed that the INDIA coalition must triumph in order to keep the entirety of India from turning into Manipur and Haryana.
MK Stalin further urged the voters to “carve out a multicultural and diverse India,” alleging that the BJP uses communalism to hide issues like the “dismantling and handing over to friendly corporations” of public sector enterprises, the sale of Air India to a private player, and the “handing over to corporations that are close to the BJP” of airports and seaports.
The DMK leader also made reference to the riots in Gujarat in 2002, claiming that the “hatred sown in Gujarat in 2002” has led to sectarian conflict in Manipur and racial conflicts in Haryana in 2023.
Stalin stated that the goal of the India coalition was to reinstate social justice, social harmony, federalism, secular politics, and socialism while issuing a dire warning that “nobody can save India if this is not stopped now.”
“DMK has always been at the forefront whenever there’s a threat to federalism,” MK Stalin said.
The DMK, according to the BJP, is the one dividing the nation along religious, caste, and linguistic lines.
Narayanan Tirupati, vice president of the Tamil Nadu BJP, defended federalism by asserting that the Centre had provided Tamil Nadu its fair share of tax money.
He added he is “glad that at least now MK Stalin accepts India as one nation” in a jab at the DMK.
The “Speaking for India” podcast was established to draw attention to what MK Stalin terms the “destruction of India under BJP.”
The launch of MK Stalin’s podcast is a turning point in his political communication strategy and paves the way for a bigger role in national politics, especially in directing and forming the INDIA alliance. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, his ruling DMK alliance had won all 39 seats in Tamil Nadu and the lone seat in nearby Puducherry.