Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday launched a sharp attack on the DMK government, accusing it of systemic corruption and expressing confidence of an NDA victory in the upcoming Assembly elections.
He said the NDA would emerge victorious in the Assembly polls due later this year in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal.
Shah cited BJP-NDA’s electoral successes since 2024, including wins in Haryana, Delhi and Bihar, saying it was now time for Tamil Nadu and West Bengal to follow.
With a strong alliance of the AIADMK, BJP and other partners, the NDA would form the government, he said, alleging that the DMK had failed on all fronts.
The rally marked the culmination of BJP state president Nainar Nagenthran’s statewide yatra, “Tamilagam Thalainimira Tamilanin Payanam”, which began in Madurai on October 12, 2025.
Slamming the ruling DMK over alleged graft and claiming that it was "synonymous" with corruption, he asked if the state can progress with an "army of corrupt ministers." "A DMK leader's name has come up in cash-for-jobs scam, that of another leader in money laundering," he said.
Another leader was named in "coal scam" he said without naming anyone.
"Can Tamil Nadu's progress happen with such an army of corrupt ministers. There is 20 per cent corruption cut money. The state economy is running on debts and liquor sales," Shah charged.
The DMK regime's sole motive is to make Chief Minister M K Stalin's son Udhayanidhi the CM and the dream to perpetuate dynasty rule would not come true and the time has come to put an end to family politics in Tamil Nadu, Shah said. He pointed out that while late DMK president was CM, his son M K Stalin also came to the to post and that plans were there to elevate Udhayanidhi also.
He also targeted the ruling party on a number of other issues.
"There is no security for women in Tamil Nadu," he said while criticising the ruling party and expressed confidence that the NDA will form the government in Tamil Nadu by April, 2026 following a win in Assembly polls.
The BJP-AIADMK alliance was a "natural" one and the two had fought the 1998 and 2019 parliamentary polls, besides the 2021 state elections.
The BJP veteran also slammed the Stalin government over "atrocities" on Hindus.
He alleged Hindu forms of worship were being "insulted," and claimed that during the Ayodhya Ram Temple bhoomi puja, an "unannounced curfew was imposed" in TN.
"Their senior leaders call Sanatan Dharma dengue, malaria. Hindu processions and visarjan (immersion of idols of Hindu deities) have been stayed. I want to tell Stalin; you have broken the constitutional ethos by committing atrocities against Hindus," he said.
BJP leaders Piyush Goyal, L Murugan, Tamilisai Soundararajan and Pon Radhakrishnan were among the leaders present.
BJP's key alliance partner AIADMK's chief Edappadi K Palaniswami addressed a rally in Salem district almost coinciding with Shah's public meeting time.
