Coimbatore: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Coimbatore and address an election meeting on February 25, BJP Tamil Nadu president L Murugan said on Monday.
The venue and time of the rally will be announced in a couple of days, Murugan told reporters here, after a meeting with party executive and senior leaders from 12 districts in the Western Region of the State.
During his visit to Chennai on Sunday, Prime Minister Modi had handed over to the Army, the home-made Arjun Main Battle Tank (MK-1A) and launched various projects and laid the foundation for several others in different sectors, including Railways, in Tamil Nadu.
Similarly, Defense Minister Rajnath Singh will address a BJP Youth wing conference in Salem on February 21, Murugan said.
To a question on alliance with the ruling AIADMK, Murugan said it was already decided and reiterated by party president J P Nadda and Union Home minister Amit Shah during their visits to the State.
Seat sharing will be finalised very soon and BJP members will represent the assembly in double digits, Murugan claimed.
Assembly polls are likely to place in Tamil Nadu sometime in April-May.
On increasing fuel prices, he said it was dependent on International prices.
PM Narendra Modi is also the MP of Varanasi Lok Sabha constituency. In this connection, it is important for him to note one charge (amongst several others) levelled by the scamster E V Ramaswami Naicker against Hinduism, with specific reference to Varanasi. EVR was supposed to have stated that when he visited Kashi Vishwanath temple in 1904, he was not provided food in the temple precincts, as he was not a Brahmin. He was also supposedly denied food in all choultries in Kashi, as these served food only to Brahmins. Now, while it is a sad fact that there had been discrimination against the weaker sections in those times, for EVR, an upper caste Hindu by birth, to make these allegations looks rather odd. Incidentally, from Tamilnadu itself, many Hindus from the non Brahmin communities, including from the weaker sections and poor persons, have visited Kashi on many occasions and there have been no such complaints from them. Though EVR had supposedly visited Kashi in 1904, he made these allegations more than 20 years later, when he felt that he had better political prospects outside the Old Congress Party. Incidentally, the biography of EVR contains lot of falsehoods which have since been exposed. There were also apparently no witnesses to certify the treatment allegedly meted out to him in Kashi. Given his record for telling lies, be it the UNESCO award, role in ensuring temple entry for Dalits, or role in Vaikom Satyagraha, there is speculation that the above episode as mentioned by him could also be false. There are certain compelling reasons for feeling so. Firstly, the present Kashi Vishwanath temple was constructed in 1780 after demolition of the old temple, by the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb. Part of the old temple was converted into the Gyan Vapi mosque and the rest was deliberately left to spite the Hindus. Much later, a Hindu Queen Rani Ahilyabai Holkar, constructed the present temple as a make shift temple, adjacent to the original temple. The jyotirlinga of Lord Shiva at the original temple, had been recovered by the temple priests prior to its demolition. In the make shift temple, the conditions were quite rudimentary for quite some time and only after 1983, there has been a major face lift. So, the question of serving food at the temple complex to anyone, looks rather strange, particularly in 1904. In fact, serving food in the temple complex is a convention followed mainly in some temples in Western Karnataka, like Sringeri, Udipi, Mookambika, etc.. It is also in vogue in most gurudwaras. Secondly, coming to the issue of choultries in Kashi, more than 20% of the town population comprises Muslims. Many hotels serve non-vegetarian food as well and are run by Muslims. Only of late, there is some restriction in serving non-vegetarian food and liqour within a quarter kilometre of the temple premises. So, denial of food in Kashi on account of being a non Brahmin looks difficult to believe.
PM Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party need to reassure their committed cadres at the ground level of their support, if they want to make a real mark in Tamilnadu. Reference here is to the arrest of BJP functionary R.Kalyanaraman under the Goondas Act, for supposedly insulting Islamic Prophet Mohammed. What Kalyanaraman had said was perfectly in line with the Dravidian ethos of the State. Moreover, he claims to have only repeated what is already mentioned in the Islamic Holy Books. Now, Islamic scholars could have engaged in a debate with him and cleared misconceptions if any, in this regard. The way Hindus did when their deities like Lord Rama or Lord Shiva were and even now are routinely abused in the name of rationalism. In January 1971, a scamster, i.e., E V Ramaswamy Naicker, garlanded Lord Rama’s photo with chappals in Salem. The then Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam CM M.Karunanidhi tried to hush up this incident. That time, many Islamic leaders in the State hailed EVR as a great social reformer. Now, in this backdrop, why Prophet Mohammed, even Allah can be abused in the State and other States of the country. The Islamic leaders belonging to the Dravidian party should therefore take Kalyanaraman’s comments sportingly and laugh it off. The PM on his part, should engage the best possible lawyers and arrange for Kalyanaraman’s unconditional release. Alternatively, the PM should direct the immediate arrest under Goondas Act of K.Veeramani of the Dravida Kazhagam and Thol Thirumavalavan, for having made false and insulting statements about Hindu deities and icons. Let it be reiterated that Islam and Christianity are in no way superior to Hinduism, If Hinduism is filthy as alleged by the DK persons, then Islam and Christianity are even more filthy. The “abhasam” or obscenity charge against Hinduism can apply to Islam and Christianity and even questions could be asked about the way Lord Jesus Christ was born and whether that is “abhasam”, as per Dravidian dictionary of rationalism. Islamic and Christian groups should also henceforth stop financing Dravidian parties for their nefarious gains. Otherwise, there could be a severe backlash which may even spiral out of control.
If PM Narendra Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party are seriously concerned about revival of Tamil culture, then they should go hammer and tongs against the Dravidian ideology spanned by the scamster E.V.Ramaswamy Naicker. EVR selectively denigrated Hinduism for helping religions like Christianity and Islam, after taking money from hardliners of these religions since pre partition times. Post 1969, EVR is being falsely projected in Tamilnadu State Board books as being the champion of the rights of the weaker sections and women, as also for upliftment of the Tamil language, when in reality, he had absolutely no role in these actions. The real persons responsible for the above were mostly members of the Old Congress Party, almost all of who were Tamil Hindus and included quite a few Tamil Brahmins as well. In Tamilnadu State Board books, EVR is falsely projected as the hero of Vaikom Satyagraha, whereas, in the target State of Kerala, he has no relevance. Overall, the standards of Tamilnadu State Board is pathetically low and this has been the case since 1969. PM should therefore outline what steps his Government proposes to rectify the situation.