No freedom of speech in NDA rule, charges Mutharasan

(BJP)-headed NDA government at the Centre with denying the people freedom of speech and expression during the last five years of its rule.

He said this while campaigning for the candidates of the Secular Progressive Alliance (SPA) contesting the April 18 Lok Sabha poll and also the byelection to the Thattanchavady Assembly constituency here. “The forthcoming poll should not be considered a poll battle alone, rather a ‘political war’ between parties and their ideologies,” he said.

The CPI leader said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had promised the people of the country during the run-up to the Lok Sabha poll in 2014 that farmers in distress would be helped, two crore jobs for the youth would be generated and steps to improve the lot of the weaker sections would be taken. “But, Modi had not done anything and his five- year rule was a monumental failure,” he said.

Mutharasan assured the people of Puducherry of statehood status if they voted the Secular Progressive Alliance to power at the Centre. Puducherry Chief Minister V Narayanasamy, who accompanied the CPI leader, described Modi as being ‘anti-dalit andanti- minority.’