People will give a fitting reply to DMK, Udhayanidhi Stalin for remark on Sanatana Dharma: Piyush Goyal

Piyush Goyal said that the people of Tamil Nadu would give a fitting reply in the Lok Sabha election next year to the DMK and its Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin for his remark on Sanatana Dharma.

Coimbatore: Union Minister of Commerce & Industry and Textiles Piyush Goyal on Monday said that the people of Tamil Nadu would give a fitting reply in the Lok Sabha election next year to the DMK and its Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin for his remark on Sanatana Dharma.

Accusing the ruling DMK of “furthering only the first family’s interests” Goyal claimed that whenever the Dravidian party faced corruption charges, it tried to divide the people on religious lines.

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“The DMK is the most corrupt party in the country. It became doubly corrupt after M K Stalin became the chief minister… Law and order is going back to worse and there’s no development in the state,” the minister said, while launching the third phase of state BJP President K Annamalai’s ‘En Mann, En Makkal (My Land, My People)’ state-wide padayatra at Avinashi in Tiruppur district, here.

The padayatra, which commenced six months ago, aims to take Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “achievements” to the doorsteps of the people and also highlight the “failures” of the DMK.

Annamalai resumed his yatra today after halting the scheduled programme on October 6 citing ill health.

People in the state were suffering for want of amenities, including medical facilities particularly in Avinashi, Goyal said, adding, “The Prime Minister will bring a 100-bed ESI hospital here soon. If you give a chance to the BJP to serve you, then Tamil Nadu will witness numerous large projects including drinking water schemes.” He later reviewed the progress of the construction of the upcoming ESI Hospital in Avinashi.

The hospital would offer state-of-the-art facilities and high quality medical services to the public, the minister said in a post on social media platform X. “PM @NarendraModi ji’s visionary leadership is truly transforming healthcare across the nation,” he said.

At the padayatra, he claimed the DMK was not interested in the welfare of the people, including farmers of Tamil Nadu, but was keen on perpetuating one family’s interest as it banked on one family — father, son and grandson. But he claimed that the BJP is different as its leaders assumed positions “purely based on their merit.” “You need a vision to develop Tamil Nadu and to make it the number one state in the country. Only Modiji has that vision and so does Annamalai who has been touring the state for the last six months,” Goyal said at the meeting in which Union Minister L Murugan and Coimbatore South MLA Vanathi Srinivasan too participated.

He exuded confidence that the people would “throw out the corrupt DMK” and vote for development as being envisaged by the Prime Minister.

“Do you want development or corruption? You don’t want leaders like A Raja (former union minister) of the 2G spectrum scam and whose property was confiscated, do you?” Goyal asked the crowd, which replied, “No”.

He alleged that whenever DMK leaders were involved in corruption cases, then that party tried to divide India. “They are attacking Sanatana Dharma, which inspired Mahatma Gandhi and Swami Vivekananda. Udhayanidhi wants to eradicate Sanatana Dharma. The people of Tamil Nadu will not allow it. They will give a fitting reply to Stalin, Udhayanidhi, Raja and the DMK,” the minister said.

He said the state wanted change and good governance, which he insisted the BJP under Narendra Modi alone could deliver.