‘These people want to divide North and South India’: Nityanand Rai

Reacting to the clip of DMK’s MP Dayanidhi Maran in which he made controversial remarks stating Hindi speakers from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar come to Tamil Nadu end up doing construction work and cleaning toilets, Union Minister Nityanand Rai on Sunday said that such people want to create unrest and divisions in the country on the basis of North and South regions.
Nityanand Rai also demanded that parties from Bihar who are a part of the INDIA bloc must condemn the statement of their ally’s leader.
“Dayanidhi Maran has made a very objectionable statement. On one side PM Modi speaks about ‘Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas’ and today people want to divide North India and South India but that won’t happen. Bihar parties who are part of INDI alliance must condemn this,” Nityanand Rai told ANI.
The controversy has been triggered by a clip of DMK MP Dayanidhi Maran going viral in which he is saying that Hindi speakers from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar who come to Tamil Nadu end up doing construction work or cleaning roads and toilets.
The clip was also shared by BJP National Spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla.
In a post on X, Shehzad Poonawalla said, “Once again an attempt to play the Divide and Rule card. First Rahul Gandhi insulted North Indian voters, then Revanth Reddy abused Bihar DNA then DMK MP Senthil Kumar said “Gaumutra states” now Dayanidhi Maran insults Hindi speakers and North Abusing Hindus/Sanatan, then playing divide and rule card is DNA of INDI.”
BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla questioned the stand of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and RJD President Lalu Yadav and Tejasvi Yadav on the issue.
In the aftermath of Maran’s comments DMK Spokesperson TKS Elangovan, labelled a major allegation on the central government, said that people from North Indian states are being given preference while being recruited in Public Sector Units (PSU).
Getting more specific, Elangovan further added that there are PSUs in Uttar Pradesh as well but they are not recruiting Tamilians.