Tamil Nadu CM Stalin slams Modi; asks PM to stop 'cheap politics' and focus on nation's welfare

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin came down heavily on Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday and said, instead of fanning enmity among people, the prime minister should focus on the nation's welfare.

The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) leader slammed Modi for his purported comments creating a wedge between people from Tamil Nadu and Bihar. Stalin shared a short clip of Modi's speech on his X handle on Thursday, in which he is heard saying, "DMK men harassed hardworking workers from Bihar in Tamil Nadu."

Calling Modi's comments "vengeful", Stalin charged the prime minister made the comments for the sake of electoral politics. 

Posting a video clip of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speech from a rally at Chhapra in Bihar on Thursday, Tamil Nadu chief minister M.K. Stalin accused the prime minister of instigating hate and stoking regional tensions during the Bihar election campaign.

During the campaign rally, Modi accused the parties in the Mahagathbandhan alliance of discriminating against the migrants from Bihar. He spoke about the incidents involving the migrants in Punjab and how a Congress chief minister in Punjab publicly declared that people from Bihar will not be allowed to enter the state. He also called out Congress leaders from Karnataka and Telangana, alleging that they insulted the people of Bihar. 

In his speech, he added that the DMK had done the same to the Biharis in Tamil Nadu. He said the DMK is harassing the Biharis in Tamil Nadu, while saying that those leaders who once insulted the Biharis are now being brought to Bihar to campaign for the Opposition.

The row emerges while assembly elections are set to be held in Bihar. The polling of votes for the Bihar election is on November 6 and 11, and the counting of votes will be conducted on November 14. 

Accusing the BJP of showing "malice" against the Tamil people, for the sake of electoral politics, the chief minister urged the BJP and Prime Minister Modi to "give up doing cheap politics". "He often forgets that he is in the esteemed position of Prime Minister for all in this country, and that he should not lose the dignity befitting his responsibility through such statements," Stalin said in a post on X.

"In the great India that prides itself on multiculturalism and unity in diversity, I urge the Prime Minister and BJP members to stop such petty political practices as fostering enmity between Hindus and Muslims, and behaving in a way that creates enmity between Tamils and the people of Bihar, and to focus on the welfare of the nation," Stalin urged.

Stalin’s statement comes at a time when the elections in Bihar have reached a feverish pitch, with the Congress and Rashtriya Janata Dal coming together despite an uneasiness in the alliance. The DMK has been supporting the RJD-led Mahagathbandhan. Stalin even went all the way to Patna to take part in the vote choir rally led by Rahul Gandhi. 

It may be recalled that this is not the first time the DMK has been pulled up by the BJP against the Biharis in Tamil Nadu. Earlier, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar even sent a team to assess if the situation in Tamil Nadu is favourable to the migrant workers from Bihar. Tamil Nadu has a significant number of Bihari migrant workers, working in the construction sites, textile manufacturing units in Tiruppur and also in hospitality and other sectors.

- with inputs from Lakshmi Subramanian.