Tamil Nadu on Friday became the third state to pass a resolution against the new rural job scheme, coinciding with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s launch of the NDA’s Assembly poll campaign in the state with a salvo at the “corrupt” DMK.
In its resolution against the VB-G RAM G Act, the Tamil Nadu Assembly said the guarantee on paid work in rural areas under the previous MGNREGA should continue, and with allocations not less than those under the old law.
“With various intentions, the name of the Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi, has been removed (from the Act’s name),” the resolution said, and demanded that it “should continue to be named after Mahatma Gandhi in remembrance of the principles (he had) laid down and the path he had shown to the nation.”
Punjab and Telangana had earlier passed resolutions against the new law. The Karnataka government has said it would pass one during the budget session. Others like Kerala have expressed disagreement with the new law through their governors’ addresses.
Modi put out a post on X before arriving at temple town Madurantakam, 82km south of Chennai, for his rally, saying: “I’ll be joining NDA leaders at the rally in Maduranthakam later today. Tamil Nadu has decided that it’s time to bid farewell to the corrupt DMK Government.”
Chief minister M.K. Stalin responded by questioning the funds release for the central school education programme, Samagra Shiksha. He also posed queries relating to issues such as natural disasters, delimitation, “tyranny of the governor”, VB-G RAM G, and exemption from the NEET for the state’s aspiring doctors.
Tamil Nadu governor R.N. Ravi had this week declined to deliver his speech — customarily prepared by the state government — at the start of the Assembly’s budget session. This is the third straight year he has done so, after delivering his own version of the speech in 2023.
Governors in Left-ruled Kerala on Tuesday, and Congress-held Karnataka on Thursday, edited or refused to deliver their speeches — a move slammed by these states’ ruling parties as unconstitutional.
At the rally, Modi continued on the corruption theme, saying the DMK government should be called the “CMC” — “Crime, Mafia and Corruption” — government.
He said the NDA government at the Centre had given the state thrice the volume of grants the UPA had done, and that the railway budget for the state had increased sevenfold.
Both figures correspond roughly to the increase in the total budget for the country, without correction for inflation.
“Tamil Nadu now has a government that has nothing to do with democracy and accountability. The DMK government is only serving one family,” Modi said.
“If someone has to rise within the party, they only have three or four routes: dynasty, corruption, abusing women or abusing our culture.”
DMK parliamentarian Kanimozhi countered: “Why were one in four voters in Chengalpattu (the district where Madurantakam is situated) deleted under SIR (draft list)…. Why does Tamil, spoken by 7 crore people, receive just ₹113 crore, while Sanskrit, spoken by 24,000 people, receives ₹2,532 crore?.... Why do 254 Tamil Nadu fishing boats and 90 fishermen remain in Sri Lankan custody?”
The DMK-led alliance —which includes the Congress, Left parties, VCK and other groups — has been firming up unity efforts. Last week, the Congress leadership tried to rein in dissenters within the state unit who wish to dump the DMK.
The leading NDA partner in Tamil Nadu is the AIADMK, headed by former chief minister E.K. Palaniswami.
On Thursday, Union minister Piyush Goyal had met the old and new allies — such as T.T.V. Dhinakaran’s Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam, a breakaway group from the AIADMK — and several smaller parties in Chennai.
Flanked by PMK leader Anbumani Ramadoss, Goyal told reporters: “Corruption and nepotism are the only focus areas of the DMK government under Thiru M.K. Stalin. The NDA will fight against this.”
The irony wasn’t lost on social media, where many underscored that both Goyal and Anbumani are sons of prominent politicians. The PMK is currently faced with a rift between Anbumani and his father S. Ramadoss.