Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Tuesday that the INDI alliance has accepted its defeat at the Central level but continues to harbour dreams of looting States like Tamil Nadu, unaware that people have made up their mind to go with the BJP in 2024, and end its games of corruption.

Addressing a BJP rally in Palladam in Tiruppur, Tamil Nadu at the end of a padyatra, he said Tamil Nadu is being discussed maximum during the current year because it is going to be the latest centre of India’s politics of development and write new history. The historic padyatra which concluded on Tuesday was proof of that, he said.

He said the unprecedented success of the padyatra showed the State will embark on a different journey this time. The BJP may not have held power in the State, but Tamil Nadu was always in its heart. Everybody knew about this, he added.

“People who sit in Delhi’s AC rooms and try to see India in divisions and want to divide the country in parts, should know Tamil Nadu is going to shape the future of this country,” he said.

“Those who are busy working out political equations should know Tamil Nadu will be this time in the forefront of deciding the fate of this country,” he said.

Mr Modi said those who looted Tamil Nadu for decades are scared of the rising popularity of BJP. They are speaking lies, and by dividing people, are trying to save their positions.

The Tamil people however know the reality and the truth is out. People are confiding their faith in the BJP, he said, and this was confirmed by the large gathering at the rally, he added.

The Prime Minister said during its two terms, the BJP Government at the Centre gave primacy to development of Tamil Nadu. The BJP Government gave the State thrice the tax devolution money it received during 2004-2014, when DMK was enjoying power in at the Centre, doing nothing for the State.

The State received several times more funds from the Centre for development in the last 10 years. DMK and the Congress have been allies for a long time, he said, and the DMK had big portfolios in the Congress-led UPA Government, but it paid no attention to the development of the State.

The Prime Minister said “when Modi works, he does so for everyone,” and the poorest are his first priority. They have Modi’s Guarantee. This is evident from facts that 3.50 crore people get free food in the State, 40 lakh women got gas connections, and PM Awas houses were given to six lakh in rural areas. Everybody is sure that Modi’s guarantee will continue for many more years, he said.

“Those in the Opposition, the INDI alliance people, who have Tamil Nadu under their control will not let the State prosper,” he said. The Congress which used to take bribes of thousands of crores of Rupees in defence deals would not have allowed a defence corridor to come up in the State.

“Modi is working for the development of Tamil Nadu. That is why this INDI alliance is scared of me,” he said.

BJP is working to make India the third largest economy in the world in its third term, but none has heard the INDI alliance members talk about the welfare of common people; they are only worried about furthering the interests of their family, Mr Modi said.

“We started the PLI for textile industries and Rs 20,000 crore investment proposals came, they will generate Rs 2 lakh crore turn-over; a PM Mitra park will come up; Mudra loans of Rs 2 lakh crore have been given to industries in the State,” he said.

“Every BJP worker works with the spirit of nation first to serve the society. I have seen how every section of the society supported the BJP,” he said. His relationship with Tamil Nadu was not confined to politics only, it was relationship of the heart, he said.

Tamil Nadu had always given him unconditional love, he said. “In 1991, I took out an Ekta Yatra, I started from Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu with two resolutions; to fly the tricolour in Lal Chowk in Srinagar and to finish off Article 370, and I have achieved both,” he said.