DMK Will Get State Autonomy by Its Centenary: CM

Chennai:By the time it reached its centenary year, the DMK would have definitely won State autonomy, it long time demand, Chief Minister M K Stalin said on Saturday at his party’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations held at the historic town of Kancheepuram, from where he averred that the BJP’s government’s ‘one nation, one election’ initiative would never become a reality.

The meeting addressed by leaders of all the alliance parties of the DMK in the State saw a unanimous affirmation on the continuation of the coalition, which was described by Stalin and other leaders as a political tie-up based on principles and not one cobbled up for the sake of facing the elections alone.

It was the robust alliance in the State that inspired the formation of the firm INDIA coalition to take on the ‘fascist’ BJP at the national level, the Chief Minister said, adding that several futile attempts were being made by rivals to rip apart the coalition by creating confusion among the partners.

The rivals, who were jealous of the unity among the coalition partners, were making repeated attempts to drive a wedge between them but would never succeed, he said, expressing delight over the sight of leaders of all the parties sharing the stage and wondering where the enemies were.

On the ‘one nation, one election’ concept, Stalin said that it would work out now as the Union Government was not even able to conduct elections on a single day for the Lok Sabha and had to go for seven phases.

To those who were justifying the idea by saying that prior to 1951, it was a common election in the country, the Chief Minister said that the total number of candidates then was 1874 which had now gone up to 8.360. The Union Government’s move would only cut short the terms of many State governments, he said.

Many States in the country were now demanding State autonomy because the Union Government was planning to declare some States as Union Territories.

The top alliance leaders like VCK president Thol Thirumavalavan, MDMK founder Vaiko, CPI State secretary R Mutharasan and TNCC president K Selvaperunthogai swore by the leadership of the DMK and pledged their support to Stalin remaining as the Chief Minister.

Thirumavalavan described the VCK as the third voice of the Dravidian movement after the Dravidar Kazhagam and the DMK and said that the present government was fighting forces of Sanatana Dharma like a double barreled gun.

Vaiko said that Hindutva and Sanatana forces were looking for ways to destroy the DMK. All the talk of one nation, one election, one language, one religion and one race were aimed at taking on the DMK that was talking about Dravida Nadu, he said.

Selvaperunthogai recalled the association of the DMK and Congress since the days of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and former Chief Minister M Karunanidhi and said that the DMK that was in power when it celebrated its silver jubilee, golden jubilee and diamond jubilee should also be ruling the State when it reached its centenary.