Rahul blames BJP for running a proxy government in TN

Addressing media persons after meeting DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi and presiding a meeting of Congress workers on Sunday, he said, “India is a mixture of many different ideas. Tamil culture is the way people of Tamil Nadu express themselves. We must respect that. Each Indian state has its own culture, its own way of thinking, its own way of expressing itself, its own food. This is India’s strength. This is not India’s weakness,” he said. 

“BJP believes that the only people who should be in power in India are the people, who believe in RSS. BJP thinks anybody else regardless who he is whether it is Congress or any other opposition party should not exist in India.” 

As for an alliance, Rahul said  that the cultural imperialism of the BJP was not acceptable to the people of India. “We are not going to allow one single Idea of RSS to invade the country. We are going to fight RSS together,” he said. Earlier, at Sathyamurthy Bhavan, he gave a patient hearing to the party legislators and functionaries on issues plaguing the state unit. 

Rahul Gandhi evinced a keen interest to capitalise on the political vacuum prevailing in the state. Rahul, who met senior leaders at the TNCC’s headquarters, is learnt to have wondered why the leaders have gone out to strengthen the party at its grass-root levels besides taking up the fitting issues. 

Leaders, in unison, blamed it on running factional-feud as the sole reason for its consistent failure to emerge as a major player at the regional level since the era of former Chief Minister K Kamaraj. Reacting to this, Rahul assured that he would look in to the issue besides asking the leaders to bury the differences considering the party’s growth in state in tumultuous times. 

Imposition of Hindi by the Centre too was brought up for deliberation, and Rahul had consensus in preserving the linguistic equality. TNCC president Su Thirunavukkarasar, former Union Minister P Chidambaram, Puducherry CM V Narayanasamy, former TNCC chief EVKS Elangovan, MLA S Vijayadharani, Mahila Congress general secretary Nagma and spokesperson Kushboo were among those present at the meeting.