The Tamil Nadu urban local body polls are all set to take place in less than three days and since campaigns will come to a halt at Thursday 6 pm, leaders of various parties are giving one last push to grab the voters’ attention.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK president M K Stalin has been very busy doing the virtual campaigns over the last few days. In his latest video, Stalin said his government has delivered most of the promises they made ahead of the 2021 Assembly polls.
“It’s been eight months since the DMK assumed charge. We have delivered most of the promises we made prior to the polls. The Dravidian model ideology is guiding our government. It means growth with social justice, it means uplifting the livelihood of the people regardless of their religion, caste, gender, etc. All of our initiatives are based on this ideology. We have slashed milk prices by Rs 3 per litre. For the social rights of women, we came up with the free bus ride for women scheme. By passing the government order that Tamils should be provided priority in government jobs here, we have provided job assurance to our youngsters,” Stalin said.
He further spoke at length about the other initiatives taken by the DMK government to improve the livelihood of the people. “People from all castes can become temple priests, initiatives to improve the education and employment of people from SC/ST and other marginalised communities, Illam Thedi Kalvi and Illam Thedi Maruthuvam are some of the schemes brought by the government,” the chief minister said.
Stalin also claimed that the people of Tamil Nadu have broken the stereotypical notion that the DMK is against Hindus. “For example, under this DMK government, only 180 acre temple lands worth Rs 1,789 crore was reclaimed from encroachments. As we had mentioned in our election manifesto, we have allocated Rs 1,000 crore for the renovation of temples.”
Taking a dig at the Opposition parties, Stalin said people who do politics with religion are being unable to break the unity of Tamil Nadu despite various antics.
“The Union government is keeping various hurdles before us as we wish to uphold social justice and equality. A prime example of this is that the Union government is not releasing the pending Rs 16,725 crore GST even in this difficult pandemic period. We have not received the NDRF funds worth Rs 8,989 crore either. Even in the recently released Union Budget, there is nothing beneficial for the people affected by Covid-19,” he said.
Commenting on NEET, Stalin said the entrance exam to undergraduate medical courses is beneficial only for those who are financially stable and can undergo coaching classes and deprives the economically challenged students. He said to protest against this injustice, his government had passed the anti-NEET bill in the Assembly but it was sent back to the government by the Governor.
“Unlike the previous government, we will not support this injustice. We will not give up our rights. We are together, the upcoming poll results should show them that we will be together in the future as well,” he added.
