DMK is ‘anti-Hindu’, FM Nirmala Sitharaman reiterates her stance  

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, on February 2, reiterated her stance that the DMK government in Tamil Nadu is anti-Hindu, emphasising that her choice of words was not loose.

In an exclusive interview with Editor-in-Chief Network18, Rahul Joshi, the Finance Minister said, “I have not said loose word. I did mean what I say and I do truly believe that repeatedly they (DMK) attack Hindus in Tamil Nadu… I speak many times about Tamil Nadu with lived experience. Therefore, I don’t talk too soon, nor do I speak indiscreetly.”

She asserted that she means whatever she speaks, and she corroborates data with actual ground activities before commenting.

“Unfortunately, if that is the politics of a state party, which has had a lot of ideological support extended to separatist politicians of years gone by, whether they support it even today I don’t know, but there are periodic voices which come out and are very separatists in tone and tenor,” she added.

Her latest remarks were in line with her allegations that the Tamil Nadu government was attempting to block the live telecast of the Ram Temple event in Ayodhya.

She also said that her grief is that a national party like the Indian National Congress has been decimated in Tamil Nadu and till today they are not in a position to win an election on their own without being in alliance with one of these parties.

“BJP is of course a beginner in Tamil Nadu. It’s been there since Jana Sangh days and it is gaining strength and it will continue to work for the people. My grief is Congress being a national party joins anti-Hindu voice,” said Nirmala Sitharaman.

The Congress didn’t condemn the anti-Hindu party DMK and supports such voices of the party in the state. “Even the sitting MP DK Suresh, who is the brother of Karnataka’s deputy chief minister DK Shivakumar also speaks in a separatist voice.”

DK Suresh on February 1 had said the southern states would be forced to demand a separate nation if the ‘injustice’ was not rectified. He had claimed that taxes collected from the south were being distributed to north India and that the former were not getting their due share.