CHENNAI: Calling the AIADMK’s decision to revive ties with the BJP a ‘historical blunder’, VCK leader Thol Thirumavalavan said that if the present-day AIADMK and its leadership were “truly loyal” to their party founder MG Ramachandran and his successor J Jayalithaa, they could not align with the saffron party.
He also criticised AIADMK General Secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami for turning the AIADMK cadres, who were once groomed in an ideology rooted in social justice, into BJP foot soldiers.
“I have great respect for Edappadi Palaniswami, but he is committing a historical blunder for political gain. You (Palaniswami) are converting AIADMK cadres into servants of Sangh Parivars and the foot soldiers of the BJP,” said Thirumavalavan at the party’s award function held in Chennai on Tuesday.
Sharpening his attack on RSS and its political wing, the BJP, Thiruma said all religions in the world embraced brotherhood, unlike Hinduism, that came into existence during the British era.
“Will RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, (Narendra) Modi and Amit Shah answer this question? I am not asking to be made a Sankaracharya, but simply asking to be accepted by your brother. You cannot do that, yet you try to deceive me by calling me a Hindu and a Murugan devotee,” he said in his sharp take on the BJP-backed Murugan Manadu.
Instead of questioning the BJP’s divisive and communal politics, the AIADMK and its leaders were defending them, he said and reiterating that this alignment was nothing but a ‘historical blunder’.
In a veiled attack on NTK chief Seeman, Thiruma said that those who fail to speak out against the eradication of caste discrimination in Hinduism, thrive on ‘Tamil Desiyam’ rhetoric.
“They use Tamil Desiyam to criticise Thanthai Periyar, an irony in itself. They cannot even identify the real enemy of Tamil Desiyam, which unmasks their identity and hollowness of their so-called Tamil Desiyam. Instead of opposing RSS’s Hindutva ideology, these forces target our brothers in neighbouring states,” he said.
He also hit out at his critics who questioned him for removing Thiruneer (ash) from his forehead, asking whether they would take him into the sanctum of the temple and treat all believers equally within the fold of Hinduism?
Speaking about the VCK’s political stance, he reiterated that the party would continue to remain a frontline force to promote and protect secularism.
“The party will never compromise its ideology for the sake of seats or electoral gain. We are even ready to stay away from electoral politics for our ideology and core principles,” he said, alluding that the VCK would not drift away from the front that stands for secularism.