DMK scion Udhayanidhi Stalin who is also a Minister in his father MK Stalin’s government, participated at the Christmas celebrations held in Chennai’s Harbour constituency.
Seated on the dais was Tamil Nadu Hindu Religious & Charitable Endowments Minister PK Sekar Babu, Chennai Mayor Priya and other Christian pastors.
Addressing the audience, Udhayanidhi Stalin said “From the same platform last year, the speech I made became a big topic of discussion. I said that I’m proud to be a Christian, I studied in Don Bosco school and Loyola College. Again I’m saying, I’m a Christian and I am proud to call myself a Christian.”
Earlier in 2022, Udhayanidhi Stalin speaking at the Christmas celebrations organized in the same Harbour constituency said that he and his wife are Christians.
However this time, the DMK scion went on to play safe saying “But I am not going to stop there this time. If you call me a Christian, I’m a Christian. If you call me a Hindu, I’m a Hindu. If you call me a Muslim, I’m Muslim. I don’t have any caste or religion. I will keep telling that everybody is equal by birth. Our leaders – ‘Thanthai’ Periyar, ‘Perarignar’ Anna, ‘Muthamizharignar’ Dr. Kalaignar (Karunanidhi), our leader CM (Stalin) has taught us only this. I will keep talking about it anywhere, anytime, how many ever times. I am sure that you will agree with what I say.”
Udhayanidhi Stalin had landed himself in soup in September 2023 when he called for the ‘eradication of Sanatana Dharma’ also known as Hinduism saying “Mosquitoes, dengue, flu, malaria, corona – we should not oppose these things. They’ve to be eradicated completely. Same is the case with Santanam (Hinduism). Our first work should be to abolish/eradicate Sanatanam instead of opposing it.” This had led to a national outrage with even the I.N.D.I. allies distancing themselves from the DMK.
Coming back to the present speech at the Christmas celebrations, Udhayanidhi Stalin then went on to heap praises on HR&CE Minister saying that he is not just Sekar Babu or Seyal Babu (workman) but a ‘Super Seyal Babu’ adding that he is on the ground whenever there is a problem.
Speaking about the recent rains that lashed Chennai and the southern districts of Tamil Nadu, the DMK Minister said “Chennai received an unprecedented rainfall of 48 cm in a single day. All your houses would’ve been submerged in water. You all were angry with us for a day, I know. But none of us hid inside the house. Me, our CM, our brother Sekarbabu, brother Kavi, sister Priya, what a great Mayor. We all didn’t even go to our homes. Because even our houses were inundated, not just your house. But we did not hide inside our house. We stood with the people as people and carried out relief work. This is the difference between DMK and other parties. All the others will come at election time.”
He then went to pat himself and Sekarbabu on the back saying “Many people tell me – ‘We’re from a different constituency but we want to come to Chepauk-Tiruvallikeni because you do so many welfare programmes here.’ But when I see such events being organized here, I feel like shifting from Chepauk-Tiruvallikeni to Harbour constituency.”
He further went on to justify his comments against Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman saying “Like brother Sekarbabu said, whatever I speak is exploding like a bomb. A big flood in Chennai. Our leader requested the Union Government for funds saying that we’ve to give people relief, repair roads, and cater to the damages. Immediately, the Union Finance Minister says, ‘Are we an ATM machine to give you money when you ask for it?’. Our media friends asked me about this saying that the Union Finance Minister is saying so and so. I responded to that saying ‘Naanga enna un appan veetu kaasaya ketom? (Did we ask for your dad’s money?)’. Our Tamil Nadu people paid taxes. The taxes paid by you. The Union Government is denying the GST, tax paid by you. I spoke about that only.”
He also alleged that the Union Government was showing a step-motherly attitude towards Tamil Nadu and went on to claim that Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh which contribute less to the Central tax pool get more money.
“We have asked for ₹21,700 crore for the Chennai flood and the South District flood. But the Union Government has not paid a single rupee till now. The ₹450 crore they claim to have given is the last year’s funds that a state is required to pay whether or not a calamity strikes. They say that we have given everything. The day after the storm hit Gujarat in 2021, the Prime Minister visited his state and announced a relief fund of ₹1,000 crore. Also, from the Prime Minister’s relief fund, he gave ₹2 lakh each separately to the deceased. But when there was such a big impact in Tamil Nadu, they did not even provide the funds we asked for, and they did not even reach out to Tamil Nadu. ₹8,000 crore rupees have been given from the State Disaster Relief Fund to Gujarat, which has not suffered major calamities and has a smaller population than Tamil Nadu. If we give a tax of one rupee to the Union government, they give back just 29 paise. Tamil Nadu has paid ₹10,000 crore in GST in this month of November alone. However, we have been given a total of ₹900 crore as State Disaster Relief Fund this year. On the other hand, the state of Madhya Pradesh gave a GST of ₹3,000 crore but has been given ₹1,000 crore as State Disaster Relief Fund. Likewise, in the last 9 years, Tamil Nadu has paid ₹5 lakh crore as tax to the Union Government. We got back only ₹2 lakh crore. However, Uttar Pradesh has given ₹2 lakh crore rupees to the union government and the union government has given them ₹9 lakh crore as tax distribution.“, he said.
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