Tamil Nadu BJP President K Annamalai has been busy with his ‘En Mann En Makkal’ (my land, my people) yatra in the state. On Tuesday night, he spoke to the media outside the famous Ranganathaswamy temple in Srirangam, about how he would shut down the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR and CE) department when BJP comes to power in the state.
In response to Annamalai’s statement, HR and CE Minister P K Sekar Babu stated that no matter how much the BJP threatened people with income tax and enforcement directorate raids and other ways, the party cannot come to power in Tamil Nadu.
“This is Dravidian soil. For the next 25 years, no other party except DMK can even think of assuming power in Tamil Nadu. Due to several welfare measures being implemented by the DMK government under the leadership of Chief Minister M K Stalin, there has been a 20 per cent increase in the vote share of DMK. The people of Tamil Nadu would never give authority to people like Annamalai to rule them,” stated Sekar Babu. He added that DMK accepts Hinduism as a religion and the BJP can’t take them on in this aspect.
Referring to a statue of Periyar that has been installed in front of the Srirangam temple, Annamalai had said on November 7, “They (DMK) have put up these (Periyar statues) outside all temples and erected flag masts as if they had accomplished something great. But we Hindus are living peacefully with this. Today, from Srirangam, the BJP is taking a resolution. The moment BJP comes to power in Tamil Nadu, we will remove all these flag masts and statues of those who said people who believe in God are fools and replace them with that of saint Thiruvalluvar and freedom fighters.” In recent weeks, Annamalai has been vocal about the malpractices in the HR and CE department.