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Mount Carmel School In Andhra Accused Of Harassing Students For Applying Tilak And Wearing Bangles

By
The Commune
-

Students of Mount Carmel High School located in Kurnool district of Andhra Pradesh have accused the school management of harassing them for applying tilak/bindi on their foreheads and girls for wearing bangles.

Reportedly, the management has termed applying tilaks on forehead by boys and wearing of bangles and bindi by girls as an ‘offence’. Those sporting a tilk/bindi or wearing bangles are being fined heavily, students say.

A report by a monthly magazine named ‘Hindu Nagara’ has stated that 36 students of the school have applied for Transfer Certificates (TC) as they were being harassed by the school management.

The school management has also been accused of forcing Christian beliefs on non-Christian children by making them mandatorily undergo Bible reading classes and Christian religious prayers during morning, evening and lunch hours.  The walls of all classrooms of the said school are also painted with the image of Jesus Christ, the students say.

The school management has also been found to frequently invite foreigners to the school and making them interact with minor students. These foreigners are reportedly missionaries working for evangelical charity organizations.

Many students have reportedly stopped attending the school as they were unable to bear the harassment. However, they haven’t been able to join another school as Mount Carmel School is demanding exorbitant money from the parents for issuing TC.

Preliminary investigations by NGO watchdog Legal Rights Protection Forum (LRPF) has revealed that there are no Minority Educational Institutions existing in Kurnool district. According to LRPF, the school is falsely claiming to have ‘Minority Institution’ status as the RTI mentions that there are no Christian minority institutions in the district.

“It is clearly appearing that the Mount Carmel School is also violating the article 25 and 28(3) of the Indian Constitution and various provisions of the Right to Education Act, Juvenile Justice Act, and the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act.”, the LRPF has noted in its complaint to the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR).

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The History Of Madras

By
Subash Ramasubramaniam
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madras day

Chennai aka Madras celebrates its 383rd anniversary today. With limited knowledge by making visits and referencing the works of the historians of the city, I am presenting various aspects of Madras right from its origin to culture to its filmy craziness.

The works of Chennai Historians Sri Muthaiah, Sriram V and Sri KRA Narasiah have been useful in my understanding of the city.

So, why do we celebrate Aug 22 as Madras Day?

Let’s go back 400 years. British sent Thomas Roe as an emissary to Jehangir’s court and sought permission to set up a trading post. Permission was granted to set shop in Surat first. Why did they want to trade? India was rich in spices, cotton, and precious stones. They wanted to export raw materials and semi-finished goods from India and import finished goods.

Meanwhile, Dutch and British were engaged in skirmishes in Indonesia as well. The British officers in Java hit upon a plan to set shop in Coromandel coast of India as they wanted to explore an alternate, peaceful location. Captain Hippon sailed in a ship by name Globe and zeroed in on Pulicat (Pazhaverkadu). Pulicat which was under Dutch control already, successfully drove the British away. Captain Hippon landed 70 miles north and set up shop at Pettapoly in 1611.

He sought permission from Golconda Sultan and a warehouse or factory was set up in Masulipattinam too. Hold on. Just as how modern day politicians keep on extorting businessmen, the scenario was the same then too. Local Governor of Masulipattinam fleeced the British. To put it in today’s lingo, there was no Ease of Doing Business then. The English traders moved their post to Durgarayapattinam. Again, there was lot of issues there as well. They went back to Masulipattinam and to their dismay famine stuck there.

The English quest for a permanent settlement continued for 2 decades. Francis Day, a dynamic chief factor, zeroed in on Madras. He found a loyal Dubash Beri Thimappa who helped him to negotiate and strike a deal with the Venkatapati Nayak, a Nayak ruler of Wandiwash (Vandavasi) under whose control the Thondamandalam region was. He took on lease a narrow stretch of land on the northern bank of River Komaleshwaram (Cooum) bordered by sea on the east. The lease was for 2 years and revenue from trade was to be shared with the Nayak. This piece of land was south of a village by name Madarasapattinam. The Nayak laid a condition that this new settlement should be named after his father Chennappa Nayakar as Chennaippattinam.

Few called it Chennaippattinam, a few Madarasapattinam. And this deal was put down in writing and communicated by Francis Day to his boss Andrew Cogan on Aug 22, 1639. Hence, Madras Day is celebrated on Aug 22 every year.

Francis Day cited availability of Calico at 20% cheaper rates as the reason to convince Cogan to get the final nod. There is a gossip angle too. His Mistress was here and he wanted to set shop to be with her!

That narrow piece of land later was developed into Fort St George. Madras was truly the gateway to British in India. It gave them a lucky break. Not only a permanent settlement but also to many firsts including the first engineering college, Corporation, and the first regiment as well.

But Chennai’s age is not 383. Perhaps 3383 or even more.

Ptolemy and Periplus have referred to the city in their works. Ptolemy calls Mylapore by the name Mylarphon. He refers it as a prosperous port town in the eastern coast. Mylapore existed as a big trading hub then.

Moving from Greek references, we will move to the tale of St Thomas, an Apostle of Christ who is supposed to have lived in a cave in the modern day Little Mount and spread Christianity in and around the then Madras.

Moving to our own rich heritage, the present day Madras has numerous Saivite and Vaishnavite Temples dating back two millenniums. About five padal petra sthalams (temples mentioned in the sacred Saivite texts) in modern day Madras.

You have the Adhipureeshwar Temple in Tiruvottriyur where prominent Saivite Saints sang in praise of Shiva. This temple dates back to 7th century.

You have Kapaaleeshwarar in Mylapore, again an ageless wonder. Sambandar performed the miracle of bringing back Poompavai to life here. This temple originally was on the shore at the present day Santhome. The Portuguese who came in search of doubting Thomas’s relic pulverised the temple. Vijayanagar kings rebuilt the temple in the present place.

Moving further down, you have another temple in Tiruvanmiyur, again dating back to 7th century.

In the suburbs, you have the Padi temple or Tiruvallithayam, yet another glorious Saivite temple. Moving north west from there, you have Tiruvalangaadu, one of the five sabhas, where Shiva addressed Karaikkal Ammaiyar as Ammaiyar (Mother) who lived in 6th century. The temple existed even before her.

And for Vaishnavites, you have about seven Divya Desams in and around Chennai. Sriperumbudur, Tiruvellikkeni, Tiruvidanthai, Tiruneermalai, Tiruvallur, Tirunindravur and Tirukadal Mallai. All glorious ones, each one atleast 1300 years old. An inscription in Sri Parthasarathy Temple, Tiruvellikkeni dates back to 810 AD by Dantivarman, the Pallava King.

There are also so many other temples which may not figure in these 108 or 275 shrines but as rich in heritage as these. Peyazhwar was “born” in Mylapore. A temple in Koyembedu Sri Korangaleeshwarar is very ancient and this area had the Ashram where Lava and Kusha, sons of our beloved Sri Rama grew up according to a myth.

After going through the sthala puranams, inscriptions, one can conclude modern Madras is not 383 years old but more than 2 or 3 millennium old!

That’s the untold glory of our Madras!

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PTR: A Non-Performing Asset

By
Vallavaraayan
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DMK leader PTR Palanivel Thiagarajan aka PTR, who happens to be the Finance Minister of Tamil Nadu through his dynastic privilege, is known for making headlines with his bloated ego and arrogance. He is at it once again.

In a recent television debate on freebies, PTR went on a rant asking if those in the Central government are economic experts having double Ph.Ds or Nobel Prize, and whether they’ve shown any economic progress to listen to them.

As usual, the man started blowing his own trumpet saying that he was doing a better job than the Union Government.

But here is his track record.

Big Talk, Small Work

As soon as the DMK government came to power, the first thing that this ‘rockstar’ Finance Minister did was to take long-term loans from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) by issuing bonds.

According to data from the RBI, Tamil Nadu raised ₹72,500 crore during the fiscal 2021-22 through market borrowings.

Well, even if one were to give the leeway that the state was recovering from the aftermath of pandemic-induced lockdown, it is not as if the Finance Minister propelled the state towards a V-shaped recovery months later turning Tamil Nadu into a revenue surplus state.

In fact, the Tamil Nadu government has been the top borrower among States in the fiscal 2021-22 and PTR has said that he plans to borrow ₹90,116.52 in FY 2022-23.

The state’s debt has increased by over 34% in just over a year. Before PTR came to power, Tamil Nadu’s debt was ₹4.85 lakh crore. The motor-mouth Finance Minister himself has stated in Budget 2022-23 that the state is going to close 2023 year at ₹6.54 lakh crore debt.

Tamil Nadu’s borrowing last year was ₹1,08,175 crores and this year, it is expected to be ₹1,20,979 crores. The debt to GSDP ratio of Tamil Nadu was 25.84% and is projected to rise to 26.29% in 2022-23.

In May 2021, PTR in an interview had said that he would restructure debts to reduce the interest burden. When he took over as Finance Minister the state’s debt was ₹2,63,976 (₹2.63 lakh) per family. 15 months later, the burden on every family in Tamil Nadu has increased to ₹3,02,300 (₹3.02 lakh). That’s a whopping ₹38,324 increase per family.

The net public debt for the year 2021-22 was ₹88,451.23 crore which is ₹1812 crore more than the previous year. For the year, 2022-23, the net public debt is going to shoot up to ₹93,851.33 (the 2022-23 Budget speech of PTR says ₹90,116.52 crore).

Dravidian Model – TASMAC Model Of Growth

Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh, the two states which the Dravidian Stockists loath, detest and discredit, have projected a revenue surplus of ₹1,006 crore, (0.05% of the GSDP) and ₹43,124 crore (2.11% of the GSDP) respectively for 2022-23.

However, Tamil Nadu’s is projected to have a staggering revenue deficit of ₹52,781 crore (2.12% of the GSDP) according to Budget 2022-23. This has been the achievement of the much-hyped Dravidian Model.

On the other hand, 17 states following the non-Dravidian Model have outperformed Tamil Nadu when we compare the revenue deficits of 2020-21 (pandemic year) and 2021-22 (recovery year).

A bulk of the revenue for Tamil Nadu comes through liquor sales through the state-owned Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation Limited (TASMAC).

The state’s economy basically runs on liquor and both the two major Dravidian parties have to be blamed for this.

But credit should be given where due. After PTR took over, the Tamil Nadu government earned a whopping ₹36,013 crore from liquor sales in FY 2021-22, the highest ever and an increase of ₹2,201.99 crore from the previous year. For this tremendous achievement, the DMK government announced a hike of ₹500 for TASMAC employess earmarking ₹16.67 crore for the purpose.

Hail the Dravidian Model!

How ‘Free Power’ Is Coming Back To Haunt

Tamil Nadu is a power surplus state yet it owes several thousand crore rupees to power discoms which are languishing in debt.

The recent risk analysis published by RBI notes that Tamil Nadu’s TANGEDCO (Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation Limited) owed a third of the money (₹1.24 lakh crore) to be paid to power distribution companies.

A government dashboard shows Tamil Nadu as the state with the highest dues to be paid to power generation companies. Tamil Nadu has the second highest overdue of ₹21,299 crore in the country.

The RBI risk analysis report notest that Tamil Nadu, will have to shell out 5.2% of its GSDP to clear 75% of the dues to the discoms.

This is a doing of both the AIADMK and DMK in equal measures. Both the AIADMK and DMK governments have mindlessly given ‘free power’ for farmers which has been exploited through multiple connections and power theft.

The erstwhile AIADMK regime failed to increase power tariffs for domestic consumers over the years for want of votebank politics.

Realizing that the free power for farmers was being misused, the AIADMK tried to roll out metering for all connections. However, the DMK which was in opposition had strongly opposed bringing farmers under metering. It had peddled lies that metering would lead to farmers paying electricity bills who have been enjoying free power. Today, PTR is strongly batting for bringing farmers under metering and is struggling to proceed with it thanks to the myopic votebank politics done by his party.

The state is struggling to find its feet in fixing this problem. In 2021, power subsidy alone cost the state exchequer more than ₹21,300 crore or 1.1% of GSDP. As of June 2022, TANGEDCO’s debt has climbed to ₹1.40 lakh crore.

Even amidst the burgeoning debt, the MK Stalin-led DMK government has provided 1 lakh free power connections to farmers in April 2022.

Quality Of Revenue Expenditure – Gujarat Vs Tamil Nadu

While the “highly intellectual”, american-educated, Ph.D holding, former investment banker – turned- rockstar Finance Minister has extraordinary brains to compare the finances of a state with the Union Government, let us ordinary mortals having pea-sized brain compare apples with apples and oranges with oranges.

Take the case of Gujarat which shares a lot of similarities with Tamil Nadu. Gujarat has an area of 196,024 sq.km and Tamil Nadu has an area of 130,0558 sq.km. Tamil Nadu has a population of around 7 crore and Gujarat has around 6.3 crore. Both the states have a coastline and are a base for a lot of industries.

Yet, Gujarat manages a revenue surplus every year while Tamil Nadu has a revenue deficit.

Let’s take a look at the quality of revenue spending for both the states.

68% of Tamil Nadu’s revenue receipts goes towards committed expenditure items like salaries (31%), pension (17%), and interest payments (20%).

On the other hand, only 45% of Gujarat’s revenue receipts goes towards salaries (21%), pension (10%), and interest payments (15%).

In fact, Tamil Nadu has a very high Interest Payements – Revenue Receipts (IP-RR) ratio of 21% which is the second-highest in the country after Punjab.

Tamil Nadu’s budgeted capital outlay (expenditure towards creation of assets like school buildings, hospitals, and roads and bridges) for the year 2021-22 was ₹42,181 crore. However, as per the revised estimates, only ₹37,936 crore went as capital outlay, a 10% decrease from the budget estimates. The different between the budgeted and revised estimates of capital outlay for Gujarat is just 5.8%.

For a party that claims social justice as its core ideology, the DMK government has cut down the “social welfare and nutrition” budget by 34% this year. The expenditure on agriculture and health has been decreased by 2% and 12% respectively.

By adjusting the capital outlay and cutting down on crucial expenditures, the foreign-educated highly intellectual Finance Minister claims to have reduced the fiscal deficit.

A Mohammad-bin-Tughlaq At Best

Two months after coming to power, when people started demanding for the promises to be fulfilled, Palanivel Thiagarajan released a white paper in order to absolve the DMK government’s inability to fulfill the many unfulfillable promises and to shift the blame on the previous AIADMK regime. And this white paper became the premise for taxing citizens more.

The minimum fare in Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) buses was increased from ₹5 to ₹10.

Property tax has been increased to the tune of 50-150%. It is pertinent to mention that the DMK in its manifesto had promised to not increase property tax.

State-owned Aavin has increased the prices of milk powder, curd, ghee, and other milk products.

Electricity fare is set to rise by 12% to 52% from September 2022 as the DMK government has proposed a tariff hike for all consumers. Tamil Nadu’s industrial power tariff is already higher than many states and this increase will make it even more expensive.

The DMK in its manifesto had promised to reduce petrol and diesel prices by ₹5 and ₹4 respectively. After much grilling, it was announced that the price of petrol would be reduced by ₹3. Nothing has been to reduce the prices of diesel and LPG cylinder. When PTR was asked in a press meet whether the government will reduce fuel prices, he retorted saying “Have we put any date on fulfilling the promise?”

That is when it ‘dawned’ on the people – none of the promises made by the DMK have any dates mentioned!

The Central government however, has reduced taxes on petrol twice so far without even announcing in their manifesto.

Tamil Nadu Gets As Good As It Gives

The oft repeated rhetoric about Tamil Nadu getting only 35 paisa for every ₹1 rupee that it contributes has been busted in this article.

In the FY 2021-2022 the tax devolution has increased by 50.2%  and grants has increased by 19% compared to the previous financial year.

PTR – A Non-Perfoming Asset For The DMK

PTR is good at two things –  self-trumpeting about his dynastic privilege and cyber-bullying those who disagree with him like a third-grade troll.

The man has no qualms in flaunting his dynastic privilege boasting about it time and again in every medium, every platform and every tweet. If one were to see any interview, press meet or even a tweet of Palanivel Thiagarajan, it would be more about him blowing his own trumpet than about the issue. Just like it happened in the India Today debate where he turned the tables saying he was doing a better job with his minions going gaga over his condescending attitude.

PTR is known for picking fights with anybody who he disagrees with. From abusing woman journalists to making personal attacks on political opponents and public personalities, the man has gained the reputation of a foul-mouthed, uncouth person unfit to be in public life. He calls anybody who admires PM Modi for his leadership as ‘cultists’ but it is PTR who is part of a cult that has to swear allegiance to one family. In fact, PTR comes from a legacy of being in servitude. His grandfather was at the servitude of the British, his father for Karunanidhi and now he is at the servitude for MK Stalin.

So, instead of covering up his non-performance with false bravado, it would do good for himself and the state if PTR disciplines his tongue and focuses on fiscal discipline.

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DMK Fin Min PTR Should Shut Up And Do Some Actual Work Instead Of Indulging In False Bravado

By
Sreeram JVC
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The Finance Minister of Tamil Nadu PTR Palanivel Thiagarjan not only questioned the credentials of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his economic policies but also arrogantly asked if those in the Centre are economic experts with double Ph.Ds and Nobel Prize to listen to them on the question of freebie culture bringing down the economy of the country.

He also went on to add that out for ₹1 rupee that Tamil Nadu gives to the treasury of the nation it hardly gets 30 paisa back. This is a oft repeated comment made not only by PTR but also his fellow Dravidian Stockists in media and public platforms.

PTR has time and again maintained that the state of Tamil Nadu contributes not less than ₹1,10,000 crores to the national exchequer through various taxes and in return gets hardly ₹35,000 crores back.

PTR’s statement must be taken with a pinch of salt since he assumes that he can weave a fake narrative by only considering Central government’s transfer to the state government under the head of tax devolutions.

But there are several factors which need to be kept in mind while we arrive at the conclusion regarding the contribution by the Central government to states.

There are 3 things which need to be considered:
1. Transfers from Central Government to state under various heads
2. Development Funds particularly regarding infrastructure
3. Direct Benefit Transfer to the people of the state

One of the allegations that the PTR and the DMK Government keeps on the central Government is that there is unidirectional downward trajectory in allocation of revenue and proportion of the revenue allocated to Tamil Nadu and similar states has decreased significantly ever since Modi came to power in 2014 which is far from the truth.

Tax devolution had increased by 91% in NDA 1 Government compared to UPA 2 and Grants had increased by 171%. In fact, in the FY 2021-2022 the Tax devolution has increased by 50.2% compared to the previous financial year. Financial Grants has also increased by 19% this year compared to the previous year.

In the interest of the economy of the state it would be prudent on the Finance Minister of Tamil Nadu to focus on fiscal discipline instead of blaming the central government for lack of allocation of financial resources.

Infrastructure Development In Tamil Nadu Under Modi

Ever since 2014 the infrastructure development is happening at a rapid pace all over the country. Tamil Nadu is seeing unprecedented growth in the development of infrastructure be it in the construction of National Highways or new railway lines or in the development of ports and waterways. A partial list of development projects would reveal that NDA Government has either spent or allocated over ₹2.49 lakh crores for the infrastructure projects in Tamil Nadu.

Direct Benefit Transfers To The People Of Tamil Nadu From The Central Government

Former Prime Minister Late Rajiv Gandhi made a startling revelation four decades back that out of every ₹1 spent for the welfare of people by the government hardly 15 paisa reaches the beneficiary. In order to end this malaise Modi government gave a push to digital economy and direct benefit transfer which has ensured that corruption by middlemen is eradicated to a large extent. People of Tamil Nadu have been greatly benefited by the various schemes of Modi which ensured that farmers receive ₹6000 directly into their bank accounts in 3 instalments every year, low interest loans are available to the entrepreneurs and street vendors, subsidized LPG connections are given to women, etc. It has been observed that Tamil Nadu tops in availing PM Mudra loans for entrepreneurs every year from the time of inception. Over 4 crore people have benefited from the various schemes.

In order to reduce the hardships of the poor people during the COVID induced lockdown periods Modi Government launched the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana through which food grains were supplied free of cost to people. Tamil Nadu received 45 lakh metric tonnes of rice worth ₹15,075 crores as on April 28, 2022 and the scheme will continue till September 2022.

Hence it is crystal clear that Tamil Nadu Government and people receive far more than what PTR falsely claims as injustice to the people of Tamil Nadu.

In the last 15 months PTR has put the economy of the state in a mess as various parameters indicate that Tamil Nadu is approaching bankruptcy. Hence it is imperative on the part of Finance Minister to stop indulging in mere rhetoric on his family and his overseas education credentials and instead start focusing on delivery as a state Finance Minister lest he would drive the state to the situation of Lehman Brothers which went bust during his tenure in that firm.

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DMK Fin Min PTR Mocks BJP TN Head Annamalai’s Agrarian Background Using ‘Goat’ Emoji, Ends Up Exposing His Half-Baked Knowledge

By
The Commune
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DMK leader PTR Palanivel Thiagarajan who keeps harping about his ‘illustrious’ familial, educational and professional background has yet again attacked BJP Tamil Nadu President K. Annamalai by mocking his family’s goat-rearing background.

Palanivel Thiagarajan aka PTR is known for spewing vitriol against anyone who disagrees with him.

In a recent television debate on freebie culture, he went on a rant asking if whether those in the Central government are economic experts having double Ph.Ds or Nobel Prize to follow the Centre’s stance on rationalization of freebies.

“Why should I listen? On what basis? Do you have a constitutional basis? No! Are you a financial expert? No! Do you have a Nobel Prize? No! Have you (Centre) performed better than us? No! On what basis should I change my policy for you?”, PTR said.

Responding to PTR’s rant, BJP Tamil Nadu chief K. Annamalai gave a detailed rebuttal in which he had pointed out the condition of Tamil Nadu’s finances and the DMK government’s inability to shore up finances and fulfill electoral promises.

To this, one of the DMK youth leader who is close to PTR had blamed the AIADMK for the state’s fiscal condition.

Commenting on the tweet of the above person, PTR mocked Annamalai and insiuated him to be a ‘goat’ who can’t understand economics or finances.

Earlier too, PTR has targeted Annamalai family’s goat-rearing background. In most of his tweets on Annamalai, he refers to the BJP leader as a goat.

However, many on social media pointed out that the goat emoji means “Greatest Of All Times” and not the animal goat.

This is not the first time that Palanivel Thiagarajan has made personal attacks on his political opponents.

He had unleashed abuses and made personal attacks on Coimbatore South MLA Vanathi Srinivasan who had called out the former for insulting Goa during the 43rd GST Council meeting.

Very recently in May 2022, he abused a woman journalist by invoking her caste identity.

He had not even spared even senior leaders of his own party. Without naming senior DMK leader Elangovan, he called him a man who could be bought for 2 kgs of shrimp.

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How The Regional Parties Are Realigning Themselves With The BJP

By
R Rajagopalan
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Six different political parties are in government in  Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka Kerala and Puducherry.

Each one of them have their ideological positioning different from that of Congress and also BJP. In fact most of the state parties be it YSR Congress headed by Jagan Reddy or NR Congress of Puducherry headed by N Rangaswamy were splinter groups of AICC. But in Karnakata and Puducherry the BJP is in power. DMK’s MK Stalin is posited in Tamil Nadu while in Kerala it is the Communist party’s Pinarayi Vijayan CPM. In Telangana it is the Telangana Rashtriya Samithi. K Chandrasekhar Rao.

The Setbacks For The Regional Parties

If the approach of these parties are analysed from political and administrative angles, all the four parties except YSRCP failed when they voted for Yashwant Sinha and Draupadi Murmu won as President of India. In the same breadth Margret Alwa was defeated miserably and Jagdeep Dhakar won as Vice President of India. These two high offices elections were a major political set back for southern regional parties.

Rahul Gandhi’s reluctance to take over as Congress chief is another setback to the regional rivals of the BJP.

That is because these four parties of south India depend more on Rahul Gandhi’s pan-India image. During the 2019 Lok Sabha polls DMK projected Rahul Gandhi as Prime Minister . But Narendra Modi won. Conversely, Congress also needs the regional forces like DMK as the Congress is also getting weakend organisationally and losing their governments.

Voters in these six states might have been empowered by these parties but all of the six parties are keen to get closer to the Union Government so that their states economic packages, extra grants special care on projects could be expedited.

At the same time, there is also a perception and mindset change among the voters in these states.

Why The Change Of Mindset?

When Yogi Adityanath got re-elected as second time Chief Minister the perception about the BJP in six southern states had dramatically undergone a 360 degree change. People’s power added to that the Modi-Yogi double engine effect in Hindi heartland is unassailable. A change of mood therefore is quietly taking place in the minds of southern voters too. Four parties DMK, YSRCP, CPM and TRS are vehemently opposing Narendra Modi and BJP. Before UP elections these parties were of the view that BJP and Modi will lose Uttar Pradesh and therefore logically the 2024 Lok Sabha poll verdict will favour Opposition parties. The principle catch in these parties are not so favourable towards Hindus, but with anti-Hindi and divisive rhetoric in the name of social justice and what not, the parties are playing their game. But the entire controversies got evaporated with one victory of Yogi Adityanath in Uttar Pradesh. It has washed out the negative feelings. Since voters are below 35 years and are attracted towards the digital transformation of India by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, best handling of the Corona crisis, no corruption charges in eight years of Modi rule are have appealed to the youth.

2023 Assembly Polls Will Be Closely Watched

Regional parties are waiting for a year more to cross 2023. Till such time the southern CMs want to be in right side of Narendra Modi. Especially to get financial packages. That is the main reason why MK Stalin is not making a big U turn. Same MK Stalin’s DMK which had shown black flags to PM Modi put black balloons on air, created an anti-North Indian sentiments like pani poor sellers only speak Hindi, have chaned after UP victory. MK Stalin invited Prime Minister to visit Tamil Nadu to open international chess tournament TRS leader Chief Minister of Telangana K Chandrasekhar Rao waited for four days in New Delhi to get a meeting scheduled with Prime Minister but returned back empty handed without meeting Modi. Almost all the six regional parties have now mellowed down the abusive languages against Prime Minister.

DMK’s Soft Approach Towards BJP

Chief Minister M K Stalin said his party, the DMK, would never compromise on its core ideology.
“The DMK will never strike a compromise with the BJP and the RSS ever, even for the smallest thing,” said the CM while participating in the 60th birthday celebration of VCK leader Thol Thirumavalavan in Chennai. Referring to his Delhi visit to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Stalin said as chief minister, he was going to Delhi to get development schemes and projects from the Union Government and he was doing so as the CM of the state. “So, there is only a relationship between the state government and the Union government. And there is no relationship between the DMK and the BJP and their ideologies,” said Stalin.

“DMK is strong in its ideology. We will not compromise with BJP and RSS. I am not going to Delhi to fold my hands and to sit and hear what they say. I am Kalaingar’s (former DMK president M Karunanidhi) son. I am going to Delhi to get schemes for the people of my state,” said Stalin as if to clear the doubts, if any, of his allies and supporters. “I will assure you that the Dravidian Model slogan would reverberate. We will not give up the Dravidian ideology ever and the Dravidian Model slogan will reverberate,” he said. Stating that the “relationship” between VCK and DMK was beyond electoral politics, Stalin said none can draw a wedge between them.

Jagan Is Keen To Denounce Naidu

For the second time this month, YSR Congress Party president and Andhra Pradesh CM Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy met PM Modi  on two occasions.

According to highly placed sources in Jagan Reddy camp, an appointment sought with the Prime Minister for a detailed discussion on issues relating to N Chandrababu Naidu’s Telugu Desam Party.

There was a talk that the CM Jagan would seek one-on-one meeting Modi on August 7 itself, after the meeting of the NITI Aayog general council, but the PM was extremely busy due to various developments including swearing-in of new Vice President of India and conclusion of winter session of Parliament .

Apparently, Jagan asked for an appointment with PM Modi then itself and the PMO communicated to him that he could come on August 17.

The meeting assumes significance in the wake of reports that the Bharatiya Janata Party has started showing some inclination towards the Telugu Desam Party and it was evident at the recent crisp meeting of Modi with TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu in Delhi.

Sources said the meeting of Jagan with Modi would be at least for an hour, as they would be discussing many issues – right from political, to personal, to the issues concerning Andhra Pradesh.

While the Centre has been liberal in granting funds to the state, there are many tricky issues to be resolved, particularly Polavaram dam construction and rehabilitation issues, which have become a major headache for the state.

Besides, CM Jagan also may seek the Centre’s support to the state on three capitals issue, in the wake of reports that the state might move the Supreme Court challenging the March 3 HighCourt judgement on Amaravati.

Since present Chief Justice of India N V Ramana, who Jagan thinks is the main hurdle for the three capitals issue, will be retiring in another two weeks, the state government is planning to file the SLP in the Supreme Court later.

If the Centre can cooperate with the state government, Jagan can get a stay on the HC order. This may be one of the issues Jagan might discuss with Modi.

The coming months will see a lot of these parties like DMK and YSRCP cozing up to the BJP once they emerge victorious in Gujarat, Karnataka and Himachal.

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Vanathi Srinivasan, The First Tamil Woman To Be Appointed To BJP’s Central Election Committee

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The Commune
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Tamil Nadu BJP MLA Vanathi Srinivasan has been appointed to the party’s Central Election Committee (CEC), one of the highest decision making body of the party.

Vanathi is the first Tamil woman to be appointed to the CEC which selects the candidates for all Assembly and Parliament elections.

Apart from this, Vanathi Srinivasan is also the National President of BJP Mahila Morcha (women’s wing) to which she was elevated in October 2020.

Born to Mr. Kandaswamy and Mrs. Poovathal, Vanathi Srinivasan hails from Coimbatore district, Tamil Nadu and belongs to one of the Other Backward Class (OBC) community. A lawyer by profession, Vanathi Srinivasan’s entry into politics began with Akhil Bharatiya Vidya Parishad (ABVP), the student wing of the BJP. Right from her ABVP days, she had carried out multiple protests for liquor prohibition, government’s apathy towards terrorism, and so on.

She was the State Secretary of BJP Tamil Nadu from 2009 to 2014 and the General Secretary of 2014 to 2020. She was appointed as the State Vice President in July 2020.

She contested in 2011 & 2016 Tamil Nadu State Assembly election as BJP candidate. She secured 33,113 votes in the Coimbatore South Constituency during the Assembly Election 2016.

In the 2021 Tamil Nadu Assembly Elections, she defeated actor Kamal Haasan by 1728 votes to emerge as the MLA of Coimbatore South.

From a grassroots ABVP worker to now holding several positions of power, Vanathi’s rise in her political career has been astounding.

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DMK Leader Peddles False Info About BJP TN Head Annamalai, Belittles Him As A Beneficiary Of Quota

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The Commune
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Karthikeya Sivasenapathy, DMK’s Environment Wing Secretary who is known for peddling half-truths and lies had recently posted about BJP Tamil Nadu President K. Annamalai attributing his achievements to reservation, DMK, Karunanidhi, and what not.

The DMK leader in his post said that Annamalai could become an engineer becauase of DMK and its late patriarch Karunanidhi saying that Mr. Annamalai’s community was given backward class status in 1974 by the DMK.

He further added that Annamalai got admission in IIM Lucknow due to the reservation policy that came in force through the Mandal Commission.

His success in the prestigious civil service examination was also attributed to DMK and Karunanidhi.

“Dravidian ideology helped a agrarian farming community to become a IPS officer. What did BJP do ? It made him graze sheep again?”, the DMK leader had posted.

However, records reveal that Mr. Annamalai had obtained his credentials through merit and not through quota.

Annamalai had passed the civil services examination in the year 2011. According to the results accessed from Union Public Service Commission’s website by a Twitter user, the cut-off for general category for the Civil Service Mains exam conducted in 2010 was 904 for a grand total of 2000. Mr. Annamalai’s score was 970 out of 2000.

Adding the marks secured in the interview, Annamalai had scored 1183/2300 while the general category cut-off was 1134.

In the UPSC exams, if a reserved candidate avails any one of the relaxations for the reserved category at any stage of the exam, he/she would be eligible only for a reserved category seat.

Mr. Annamalai had breached the general category cut-off in the prelims as well. He succeeded without availing any of the relaxations for the reserved candidates and secured an unreserved seat.

This is not the first time that the DMK leader who is also a self-proclaimed environmentalist has resorted to peddling false information.

Earlier, Sivasenapathy had peddled outright lies about Tamil Nadu’s economy attributing the growth of the state to DMK regime.

The Commune has reached out to Mr. Annamalai regarding his CAT score and his selection to the IIM. The article will be updated once we receive the information.

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‘Dravidian Model Rationalism’: DK Members Donate Money Equivalent To Veeramani’s Weight As ‘Subscriptions’ For Its Mouthpiece

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The Commune
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Rabid anti-Hindu and anti-Indian outfit Dravida Kazhagam (DK) recently held an event at Tirupattur for collecting money from its members to enrol subscribers for the outfit’s mouthpiece Viduthalai.

A large number of self-proclaimed ‘rationalists’ and followers of E.V. Ramaswamy Naicker (known as ‘Periyar’ by his followers) participated in this event.

During the event, these self-proclaimed donated money equivalent to the weight of DK’s President K. Veeramani just

Just like the thulabaram present in Hindu temples, Veeramani, a self-proclaimed rationalist and an anti-Hindu bigot was made to sit on one side of the life-size weighing scale as members stacked cash bundles on the other side.

At one point, the weight of cash became equivalent to Veeramani’s weight.

However, in order to collect more bundles of cash, one of the members standing behind Veeramani was found pressing his legs on Veeramani’s side to increase the weight so that members placed more and more bundles to balance his weight.

Reportedly over ₹20 lakhs was collected and given to Veeramani as ‘subscription amount’ for the outfit’s mouthpiece ‘Viduthalai’.

Dravida Kazhagam is a self-proclaimed ‘rationalist’ organization founded by E.V. Ramaswamy Naicker aka ‘Periyar’ which is known for spewing venom against Hindu faith.

In light of this, many on social media have been roasting and lambasting the anti-Hindu organization for insulting Hindus and Hindu faith on one hand while adopting its practices to raise funds for itself.

 

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Christian HM In TN Govt School Refuses To Hoist Indian National Flag, Says ‘She Bows Down Only To Christ’

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The Commune
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A Christian headmistress of a government high school in Dharmapuri district of Tamil Nadu refused to hoist the national flag on the occassion of India’s 76th Independence Day.

Tamil Selvi works as headmistress at the Government High School at Bedarahalli in Dharmapuri district.

On August 15, the Panchayat Council President Nandini, Parent Teacher Association President Munusamy, School Management Committee President Yashoda and students, teachers, parent teacher association administrators and school management committee members participated in the Independence Day celebrations held at the school.

When invited to hoist the flag, Tamil Selvi refused and asked a teacher to go and hoist the flag. She said that she did not want to hoist the national flag because she belonged to the Jehovah’s Witness organization and saluting the flag was against her religious beliefs.

She had said that she can offer salute only to her God (Jesus Christ) and not anything else as that is the order of the God and rule of the Bible.

“I respect only my God’s law. I’m firm that a salute should be offered only to my God.”, she was quoted saying in a report and added that she respects the national flag and meant no disrespect through her actions.

She said that will obey all the laws of the state but will bow down only to her God and not the national flag.

Enraged by her act, the people of the village have condemned the Christian HM’s act and submitted a complaint to the Chief Education Officer on Tuesday (August 16).

The people who met the reporters after this said that the teacher had insulted the national flag and was bringing religious politics into the school.

(With inputs from News 18 Tamil Nadu)

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