Naidu plays Dravidian card for NDA
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Tuesday invoked Dravidian roots to seek votes for the NDA candidates in the run-up to the Tamil Nadu Assembly polls.
Invoking Tamil pride, the TDP chief said he came here to remind the people of the southern State about their future and appealed to them to vote for the National Democratic Alliance candidates. Addressing a press conference, he said Tamil Nadu is the cradle of Dravidian (South Indian) culture and observed that Tamil and Telugu people were together under the Madras Presidency during the British colonial time before independence.
“You are all aware that Tamil Nadu is the cradle of Dravidian culture. We are all Dravidians. Historically, if you can go through it, we are (were) all in a combined province during the British period.
Chennai was the headquarters. At that time, Madras,” Naidu said.
According to the Andhra CM, Tamil Nadu has produced several stalwarts who contributed to the country, including CV Raman, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, Srinivasa Ramanujan, Abdul Kalam and MS Swaminathan.
Great reformist leaders like Periyar EV Ramaswamy came from the State, including Anna Durai, he said, adding that Tamil Nadu had dominated the bureaucracy by producing several IAS officers.
Recalling that his first chief secretary was also a Tamilian, Rajaji, he said Tamil Nadu continues to dominate with its strong IAS lobby. He said that former president Abdul Kalam also hailed from the State.
“Abdul Kalam. We were very happy during the Vajpayee period. He was selected as the President of India. He made all the difference. So many presidents, but people remember today only Abdul Kalam. That is the biggest difference he made,” Naidu said.
Similarly, he underscored that TDP founder NT Rama Rao (NTR) and AIADMK founder MG Ramachandran (MGR) were good friends both in movies and also in politics. By the time NTR had become the CM of Andhra Pradesh, MGR was already the chief minister of Tamil Nadu.
Further, Naidu noted that Tamilians love their language Tamil immensely and also protect it.
Asserting that Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh were not separate, he said the State is renowned for its temple architecture, which Prime Minister Narendra Modi appreciates.
He (Modi) promoted Tamil Nadu temples in a big way, Naidu said, mentioning famous temple towns such as Thanjavur, Tiruchirappalli, Chidambaram, Madurai, Kanchipuram and Rameswaram.
Elections to 234 Assembly seats in Tamil Nadu will be held on April 23, and the results will be declared on May 4.
