DMK 'deceiving' people on central fund allocation, claims TN BJP

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu BJP flayed Chief Minister MK Stalin on Friday for allegedly spreading a disinformation campaign on central fund allocation and accused the ruling dispensation of “deceiving” the people on the issue.

It would be appropriate for the Chief Minister to speak “responsibly” after pondering over the implication of his choice of words, the party’s chief spokesperson Narayanan Thirupathy said.

“The Chief Minister has employed the word ‘Namam,’ implying deception, regarding the allocation of funds to Tamil Nadu by the Central government. But in contrast, namam meant name (or religious mark on forehead),” Thirupathy said, referring to Stalin’s remark that his government mopped up revenue through the collection of taxes but hardly received its due share from the central pool.

The Chief Minister’s contention was that Tamil Nadu was only for the collection of taxes through GST and direct taxes, but the state did not receive its fair share of the central funds.

Noting that the Chief Minister had used “namam” as a political jibe to imply deception, Thirupathy said in a post on ‘X’ that namam meant 'name' in Sanskrit. It was also the slogan of the Dravidian parties, which hailed late Chief Minister C N Annadurai by uttering “Anna namam."

“In Silappadhikaram (ancient Tamil classical poem) ‘Nilavodu Namam Paranthu' means fame spread along with the moon. In Purananur (another ancient poem), there was a mention of ‘namam perta innisai,' which is famous music. At no point of time did the word namamd have any other meaning other than its original meaning of name," the BJP senior said.

He further said, “the Chief Minister should responsibly after pondering over the implication on his choice of words.”