Swamy rules out pact with DMK

October 17, 2013, Pioneer

SWAMY RULES OUT PACT WITH DMK

Thursday, 17 October 2013 | Kumar Chellappan | CHENNAI

The BJP will not have any kind of electoral alliance with the DMK, according to Subramanian Swamy, senior BJP leader. In an exclusive interview with The Pioneer, Swamy, ruled out any kind of alliance with the DMK.

“Karunanidhi, the DMK chief, humiliates, insults and abuses the Hindus in the country at every available moment. His one-point agenda seems to the be demolition and destruction of Ram Setu, a symbol sacrosanct to Hindus all over the world. Karunanidhi calls Hindus as thieves. He also ridicules and rebukes people wearing pottu or kumkum on their foreheads and describes it as signs of slavery and degradation. How can you expect BJP to align with such a party,” asked Swamy when he was pointed out that Karunanidhi had approached the BJP with a request to support the DMK candidate for the upcoming Yercaud by-elections to the Legislative Assembly.

The DMK leader has been pressurising the UPA Government to demolish the Ram Setu, believed to have been built by Lord Rama during his attack on Sri Lanka. Karunanidhi wants to construct Sethusamudram Shipping Channel after demolishing the stone structure held in high reverence by Hindus all over the world.

Swamy was critical of the DMK patriarch for asking Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to stay away from the Commonwealth Heads of Governments Meet (CHOGM) scheduled to be held in November at Colombo in Sri Lanka. “India cannot discriminate between Tamils and Sinhalas in Sri Lanka because both are our blood brothers. While the ancestors of the present day Tamils in Sri Lanka are from Kerala who migrated to the island nation during the imperialist rule of the British, the Sinhalas are the descendants of people who migrated to Sri Lanka from Odisha and Bihar. This has been clearly stated by Leader of Opposition Sushma Swraj after she led an all-party delegation to Sri Lanka. The historical resolution of the RSS meeting held in Jaipur in March 2013 too reflects this sentiments,” Swamy pointed out.

He also reminded that CV Vignesswaran, the newly sworn in Chief Minister of the Northern Provincial Council in Sri Lanka pleaded with the political parties in Tamil Nadu not to rake up the Eelam issue any more. “Whenever the Tamil Nadu politicians demand a separate Eelam, it is the innocent Tamils in Sri Lanka who had to bear the brunt of conservatives in Sri Lanka,” Vigneswaran had told visiting journalists from Tamil Nadu.

Swamy, an old Sri Lanka hand, wanted the Union Government to take both Tamils and Sinhalese into confidence. “At present the UPA Government, because of its selfish and vested interests and for political survival is pandering to the DMK’s extremist views as well as some top Congress leaders who had long term ties with the LTTE. But the UPA’s skewed policy has only helped China and Pakistan to make major inroads into Sri Lanka at India’s cost,” said Swamy.

He wanted Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to attend the CHOGM and not to be pressurised by sectarian groups to sacrifice national interests. “India has much to learn from Sri Lanka, particularly in its anti- terrorism operations against the LTTE. It is one of the very few countries in the world which has wiped out terrorists from its soil. Now the remnants of LTTE exists only in London and Paris,” pointed out Swamy.

He declined to divulge more about the electoral strategy of the BJP in Tamil Nadu. About possibilities of an alliance between the AIADMK and the BJP, all he said was that Jayalalithaa has a patriotic heart.

“We are confident of an absolute majority. The youth in the age group of 18 to 30 motivate us. They want a change in the style of governance and administration. And they are confident that Narendra Modi can bring in the change they want,” he said.
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