DMK president and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on Sunday said the ‘Dravidian ideology’ was not outdated, but it had rendered Sanathana dharma, Varnashrama, Manu Needhi, humiliation in the name of caste and suppression of women outdated.
Addressing a public meeting to mark the completion of two years of the DMK rule, Mr. Stalin recalled Tamil Nadu Governor R.N. Ravi’s remarks that the “Dravidian ideology had expired”, and asserted that only the Dravidian ideology had the power to defeat the Aryan and other ‘invasions’.
“It [Dravidian ideology] is a weapon and that is why the Governor is afraid of it. But he should not have any fear since the objective of the Dravidian model is construction and not destruction. It will only reform, not crush; it will not subjugate anyone but treat everyone equally; it will not boycott anything but stand shoulder to shoulder,” Mr. Stalin said.
Reacting to the Governor’s question as to why the State government had not accepted the ‘Akshaya Patra’ breakfast scheme, Mr. Stalin asked where was the need to implement the scheme of a private organisation when the State government was running its own breakfast scheme. “Why has the Governor become the mouthpiece of a private organisation? ,” Mr. Stalin asked.
The Chief Minister said the Governor also delayed nod for the Bill to ban online gambling, and his activities created suspicion in the minds of the people of Tamil Nadu that he was acting as a puppet in the hands of someone.
The DMK president also accused Mr. Ravi of seeking to run a government by sitting in the Raj Bhavan.
“Half the power rested with Governors and Governor-Generals, and half with the governments during the British period. Indian freedom movement changed this and created a fully democratic government. The core principle of the Indian Constitution is democracy. If the Prime Minister and the Union Cabinet have the power to administer the Union government, a Chief Minister and his cabinet have the power to rule a State. Only Parliament and Assemblies have the power to enact laws. The Governor assumes that he has all powers,” Mr. Stalin said.
The Chief Minister said the DMK government never enacted any law in a hurry and introduced Bills in the Assembly only after studying the issues properly.
He said if anyone tried to intimidate the DMK government through the Governor or someone else, “we will not be cowed as we have led the linguistic war and faced the Emergency”.
