It comes as no surprise that whenever A Raja, Member of Parliament for the Nilgiris constituency and deputy general secretary for the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), steps onto the stage to deliver a speech, it is often controversial and marked by abusive language. On this occasion, he targeted Hindu beliefs and made unsubstantiated claims against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, adhering to the familiar rhetoric peddled by the DMK and Dravidianists.
On 3 March 2024, a public gathering took place at Coimbatore Rajaveedi Thermuti Thidal to commemorate the 71st birthday of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin. The event aimed to elucidate the accomplishments of the DMK government under the theme “Dravidian Model Government: Everything for Everyone.” N Karthik, the Secretary of Coimbatore District DMK, presided over the proceedings, while A. Raja, the Deputy General Secretary of the association, served as the guest speaker, highlighting the achievements of the DMK government.
He commenced his address by discussing the concerted efforts made by businessman Gautam Adani and Prime Minister Narendra Modi to substantiate their assertions. “There is a man named Adani. He was at 110th place, before he (PM Modi) became the Minister. Where? In Gujarat, When he became the Prime Minister, he came to 66th position, and in 10 years he became the richest man in the world. How did it come? No one knows. Everyone thought that he earned as much as he could. Who invited him to all places and bought contract? It is truly Modi.”
To support the claims, A Raja referred to Hindenburg report, which emphasized the imperative “stock manipulation and fraud accounting” Employing strategic language, A Raja acknowledged these as allegations, highlighting the common place nature of such accusations in public life and quoted “Allegations and counter allegations are quite common in public life”.
He also called the Prime Minister a “fraud”.
During his subsequent remarks, he commended the British government and endorsed the perspective presented by the state-owned broadcaster, BBC. He said “ When he was the chief minister of Gujarat, Muslims were slaughtered in groups. They were slaughtered like goats and cows. Women’s purdah were lifted to check if they were Muslim and raped. Children were killed. He (BBC) put everything in document in film. It ran for 5 hours. Will it have run for 5 hours? Yes it ran. They have banned it. They banned the broadcast. We asked about it in Parliament. We asked him to tell us whether it was true or false, but he never came. Modi did not open his mouth until the end, he blocked it.”
He consistently propagated a narrative without interruption, claiming that individuals affiliated with the RSS were apprehended for the assault on Bilkis Bano. “A woman named Bilkis Bano, 23, 26 years old, a woman with a six-month-old baby in her hand, 13 Muslims are walking with wearing purdah and cap, RSS cadre is coming from there, he sees that they are wearing purdah, immediately he says Jai Shri Ram. Immediately they pulled the girl and stripped her naked, even that is fine, we can say that they are some kind of animal, but they grabbed the child’s leg and beat like a coconut that shatters on a rock. Double life sentence for raping 16 people.”
A Raja began narrating the familiar narrative of Dravidian ideology, asserting that the Gujarat government, through its cabinet, made a decision claiming that the accused, identified as Brahmins, and so they were released from prison.
“Say that love is God. Say that God is there in the humanity shown between individuals. Say that God’s abode is a heart with no ill intentions. Say that you can see God in a poor person’s smile. On such a God neither we, nor Kalaignar, nor Anna nor Periyar don’t have any anger! But if you say this is the God. If this is your Jai Sri Ram, if this is your Bharat Mata Ki Jai, we will never accept that Jai Sri Ram and Bharat Mata. Tamil Nadu won’t accept. You go and tell, we’re enemies of Ram.“, A Raja went on a rant.
Later he recounted the tale Kamba Ramayana. However, in a surprising twist at the conclusion, he confidently affirmed his own perspective “I don’t have faith on Ramayana, and lord Ram“.
Then he conveyed strong disdain saying “If you say that the in name of the Ramayana is human harmony, where four brothers are born as siblings, one Kuravar as brother, one Hunter as brother, another monkey as another brother, another monkey as the 6th brother, then your Jai Sri Ram is Chi! Idiots!
He leveled accusations of corruption against the Prime Minister on the stage, making claims without presenting substantial evidence. “Now ₹7 Lakh Crore accusation on Modi, ₹7 Lakh Crore Accusation. You know what? They have given insurance for the dead body and written a medicine and pills for the dead. ₹7 Lakh Crore. All nine holes in the body are laughing.”
Speaking at another event in Coimbatore on 3 February 2024, the DMK MP made inappropriate comments directed at the Chief Minister of Manipur.
While speaking about Manipur, A Raja accused Prime Minister Modi of not visiting Manipur following the riots in the state. In response to the incident, a resolution was presented in Parliament to draw attention to the matter. Manipur’s Chief Minister, Biren Singh, dismissed the severity of the situation, stating, ‘It’s not a significant issue; such occurrences are common in our state.’ Addressing the public, he questioned whether BJP-affiliated Chief Minister Byron Singh had resigned in the aftermath of the incident, referring to him as a rhinoceros.
He then turned the focus on Modi and Amit Shah, questioning what appellations should be attributed to them for their support. He urged the people of Coimbatore to make their own judgments. He also emphasized that despite Modi’s visits to various places, he has not visited Manipur. He also peddled misleading information and half-truths about the sexual violence inflicted on a tribal women in Manipur.
A Raja has claimed that during the election, numerous individuals, including Adani, clandestinely contributed ₹6500 crore to Modi.
He said that if the DMK alliance wins all 40 seats and brings about a change of government at the centre, PM Modi will go to jail.
“Mr. Modi, you’ll be prosecuted“, he threatened.
A Raja MP continued his discourse, challenging whether Prime Minister Modi is prepared to elucidate the allegations against him in Parliament. He questioned Modi’s ability to confront the corruption charges with the same honesty and willingness to face both the court and parliament, as he himself did when emerging from a similar case.
Further in his speech, the DMK MP said that India was not a nation but a sub-continent, similar to the divisive notion of India peddled by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.
“India is not a nation. Understand this well. India is never a nation. One nation means one language, one tradition and one culture. Then only it is one nation. India is not a nation but a subcontinent. What’s the reason? Here, Tamil is one nation and one country. Malayalam is one language, one nation and one country. Oriya is a nation, a language and a country. All these nations make up India. So, India is not country it is a subcontinent. There are so many traditions and cultures. If you come to Tamil Nadu, there’s a culture. In Kerala, there’s another culture. In Delhi, there’s another culture. In Oriya, there’s another culture. Why in Manipur, as RS Bharathi said, they eat dog meat. Yes, it is true, they eat. That’s a culture. There’s nothing wrong. It’s all in our mind.” DMK MP A Raja said.
Back in November 2023, DMK’s Organizational Secretary RS Bharathi while hitting out at Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi had said “The people of Nagaland eat dog meat. If someone who eats dog meat themselves has so much self-respect that they chased away this governor, then imagine how much self-respect Tamils, who consume food with salt, would have.”
Coming back to the speech of DMK MP A. Raja, he drew a parallel between the culinary practices in the north-eastern states, where dog meat is consumed, and those in other regions, using the analogy of how water from the same source can be perceived differently when used in the kitchen versus in the toilet.
“From the water tank, water comes to the kitchen. We will use the water in the kitchen. Same water from the water tank comes in toilet but we won’t use it from there. What’s the reason? We’re having a problem psychologically. Water is the same but there’s a difference from where it comes. We acknowledge both. That’s toilet and this is kitchen. Similarly, in Kashmir there’s a culture. Acknowledge it. In Manipur, people eat dog meat, acknowledge it. If a community eats beef, what is your problem? Did they ask you to eat? So, unity in diversity. We’ve differences. Acknowledge it.”
While peddling canards about the BJP wanting to throw away Constitution, the DMK MP A. Raja also made seditious comments saying Tamil Nadu would secede from India if BJP comes to power.
“PM Modi asserts that there will be no DMK in Tamil Nadu after elections. If DMK is not there after elections, there won’t be India. Beware! You playing a game is it? I’m not joking. Constitution of India saying ‘We the people of India, having solemnly resolved to constitute India into a sovereign, secular, socialist, republic, democratic republic’. This is the first line of the Constitution. They want to thrown away this Constitution. Why did I say India won’t be there? If you come to power again, Constitution won’t be there. If Constitution is not there, India won’t be there. If India is not there, Tamil Nadu won’t stay as Tamil Nadu and we will secede. Does India want this?”
INDI alliance partner DMK minister says that he will send PM Narendra Modi to jail and if there is no DMK there will be no India.
.@narendramodi .@HMOIndia
We are only asking you to take action on the corrupt, how can the nation move forward if such corrupt politicians are… pic.twitter.com/ASLIuHSlhO— Vishwatma 🇮🇳 (@HLKodo) March 3, 2024
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