BJP national president J P Nadda wrote to Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge expressing shock over the “stoic silence” of the grand old party over the recent hooch tragedy in Tamil Nadu’s Kallakurichi region which resulted in the death of more than 56 people.
The letter of Nadda, who is also Union health minister, to Kharge read: “The ghastly images of burning funeral pyres, from Karunapuram village in Kallakurichi, Tamil Nadu, in the aftermath of Tamil Nadu’s worst-ever spurious liquor consumption tragedy, that has left 56 dead until now and almost 159 persons hospitalised, have shaken the conscience of the entire nation.”
He further wrote, “Kharge ji, the tragedy in Kallakurichi is entirely a man-made disaster and perhaps, if the deep nexus between the ruling DMK-INDI alliance dispensation and illicit liquor mafia did not exist, today 56 lives could have been saved. In May 2023, around 23 people once again succumbed to illicit liquor in Villupuram and Chengalpattu. At that time too, the BJP had cautioned the ruling DMK-INDI Alliance government of complicity and nexus between their functionaries and the illicit liquor mafia. But no attention was paid to our sincere exhortations.”
Nadda demanded an immediate stop to the sale of illicit liquor in the state and the sacking of the minister concerned. “At this juncture, the BJP and the entire nation demand that you press upon the DMK-INDI Alliance Tamil Nadu government to go for a CBI probe and ensure immediate removal of Muthuswamy as minister…,” the BJP chief wrote in the letter.
“We also urge you to pursue Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra to either pay a visit to the victim’s families or at least muster the courage to raise their voice on this issue rather than maintaining a deafening selective, hypocritical silence,” Nadda added.