CHENNAI: From dynasty to development and corruption to crimes, the Centre-ruling BJP’s election mascot, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, touched upon all the talking points that the Saffron party and other rivals of the ruling DMK have been raising during his meeting in Madurantakam that marked the formal launch of the NDA’s election campaign, on Friday.
Though the Tiruparankundram deepathoon row was expected to be the key point in the address delivered by Hindutva’s biggest leader in recent memory, it found much less space and stress in Modi’s speech – unlike his address in Kerala hours earlier where the Sabarimala gold theft allegation received anticipated attention.
Launching the NDA's 2026 Assembly election campaign, Modi declared that the countdown has begun for the end of the DMK government, asserting that the State needs a double-engine NDA government to ensure development, security and a corruption-free administration.
The ruling party betrayed the mandate given by the people and was running what he termed a corruption, mafia and crime regime. "Tamil Nadu today needs a government that works in coordination with the Centre. Only when the NDA is in power both at the Centre and in the State can Tamil Nadu become crime-free, safe, developed and corruption-free," he said.
"The DMK government functions only for one family. In that party, one can rise only by following four paths—dynasty politics, corruption, insulting women and mocking culture," he charged.
Modi also accused the DMK of pandering to its vote bank by seeking to prevent the lighting of a lamp on deepathoon in Tiruparankundram and even attacking High Court judges for issuing an order against its government, and said the BJP members stood in the forefront to resist the move and ensure that the ritual was held as planned.
Modi was joined on stage by AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami, the alliance’s chief ministerial candidate, and leaders of smaller allies, most notably TTV Dhinakaran of AMMK.