Wearing Tamil mask will not work in vice-presidential election, says CM Stalin

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin said on Sunday that the BJP was adopting the “old trick” of wearing the mask of Tamil identity to seek support in the vice-presidential election, despite its government having acted against the interests of Tamil Nadu and its people.

“Ideas, rather than individuals, should guide politics. Individuals are merely symbols. We must support pro-people ideologies,” he said at a meeting organised by the DMK and its allies to introduce INDIA bloc vice-presidential candidate and former Supreme Court judge B. Sudershan Reddy.

Mr. Stalin claimed that the Constitution was under threat and accused the BJP-led government at the Centre of reducing investigation agencies and independent constitutional bodies to being mere appendages of the party.

“We have a candidate who believes in India’s foundational principles, such as secularism, federalism, social justice, and unity in diversity. Justice [retired] Sudershan Reddy, who has legally championed human rights and delivered landmark judgments to uphold justice, must win in the vice-presidential election to protect Indian democracy, the dignity of Parliament, and the Constitution,” he said.

The Chief Minister said Justice Reddy would honour Tamil Nadu and the aspirations of its people, at a time when the BJP was allegedly attempting to dismantle the Constitution.

Recalling his earlier speech opposing the National Education Policy at the Tamil Nadu Progressive Writers and Artists Association, Mr. Stalin asked, “Do we need any further reason to nominate a candidate who has defended the Constitution and stood in support of the Tamil people?”

He also criticised Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s remarks labelling Justice Reddy a Naxalite. “It is unbecoming of a Home Minister to make such comments. The BJP government has failed to curb terrorism and Mr. Shah’s accusation against Justice Reddy is merely an attempt to deflect attention from that failure,” he said.