Political Address on Recent Controversies

Greetings to my beloved Tamil people.

In the recently concluded Legislative Assembly,

some of the controversies that took place

have caused the Tamil people,

and our fellow brethren anger and dissatisfaction,

I realize.

Especially since

a major part of this controversy is

my own prison history, I would like to clarify it a little.

Brother Vijay, what you said

is true,

it is not a lie at all.

During the Emergency,

in protest against it,

leader Kalaignar convened a huge gathering on Marina Beach

and strongly criticized the MISA Act,

and the then Union government, on January 31, 1976,

dissolved the DMK government.

The very next moment after dissolving the government,

to arrest me under the MISA Act,

the police came to the Gopalapuram house.

I was not at home that day.

"The boy's gone campaigning.

He'll be back tomorrow. As soon as he comes, I'll call you myself."

Kalaignar sent word, "Come and arrest me."

The next day, when I returned,

he himself

told the police to come

and ordered them to arrest me. In prison, I suffered many atrocities.

நடந்துச்சு。

They took us

and locked us up where leprosy patients were kept.

They locked ten of us

in a small room.

In that very room,

all of us had to urinate in one pot.

The place

smelled utterly foul.

That's where we had to sleep.

At night, without letting us sleep,

the police would beat us with lathis.

They would trample us with their boots.

On the other hand, they would set life-term prisoners on us

to beat us brutally.

From their beatings,

my dear elder brother, Member of Parliament Chittibabu, who was with me,

died in jail.

From their beatings...

All the bones in my jaw were broken. You even

placed your hand like this

and pointed to my jaw, didn't you? That's correct.

Even today, I still bear the scars

of the beatings I received.

I'm not denying it.

For those in public life, especially

those fighting for Tamils and Tamil Nadu,

many have faced this kind of repression.

All fighters have made it through this.

All fighters have made it through this.

Fighting back

and facing the consequences is nothing new to us.

Since the time of Arignar Anna, whom you call an ideological leader,

this has been the history of the DMK. In that history,

having a place for myself is something I'm proud of.

No matter who disparages me, they can't change history.

It will remain that way forever.

If you have doubts, didn't you say there was a library in the Legislative Assembly?

All the records are there.

Go there and read about the history of my struggle.

You'll understand the truth. Secondly,

About the Sarkaria Commission and our leader Kalaignar,

you've spoken falsehoods.

You've made allegations of corruption. After the Sarkaria Commission was set up,

the governments at the Centre and in the state changed many times.

If there had been any truth in these allegations,

action would definitely have been taken.

For all these years, against Kalaignar,

those with political animosity have made false allegations,

and you're repeating them yourself.

Not only that, you're taking the letter written by the Enforcement Directorate

and citing it,

saying it contains corruption allegations against us.

In 95 percent of the cases filed by the Enforcement Directorate,

the charges have not been proven so far.

The accused have been acquitted. Mostly,

it is to settle political scores that

the Enforcement Directorate is deployed here.

Everyone here knows that well. To make it clear to you,

even the Congress party president in your alliance

has had several cases filed against him by the Enforcement Directorate.

This is the Union government's

policy. How could you, a staunch opponent of the Union government, not know that?

Honorable Chief Minister, younger brother Vijay, I have

only one thing to ask you.

The Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly has dignity and respect.

It does.

Many great leaders and eminent figures

shaped and governed Tamil Nadu.

That responsibility

rests with you. In the Assembly, law and order

Problems, public welfare schemes,

how to take Tamil Nadu further along the path of progress,

how to safeguard Tamil Nadu's rights, all these things,

debate them.

That's what is good for Tamil Nadu and the Tamil people. Instead of that,

my request is that there is no need to discuss unnecessary controversies

in the Legislative Assembly.

When you became Chief Minister,

you came to my house to meet me. Then I

welcomed you by holding your hand. Then,

when we spoke,

you told me,

"During the election campaign, I spoke very critically about you."

You said, "I am sorry, sir." To that, I said, "It's okay,

brother, I didn't take any of that to heart. You

are now the Chief Minister of a state.

Whenever you speak about anyone,

speak with that dignity," I said. All that, you

seem to have forgotten. I am saying it again.

Your words must carry the dignity befitting a Chief Minister,

as must your body language.

We are role models for the people. Don’t forget that.

You must act with an awareness of the great responsibility you hold.

You’ve turned the Assembly itself into a place to make Reels,

and stand on the bridge we built for photo shoots,

running the administration like a movie shoot.

To hide your incompetent administration, you are

posting all kinds of Reels like this

and deceiving an entire generation.

But what is the reality?

Before the truth can leave the town, a lie

will have circled the world, as the proverb goes.

That is exactly what is happening. Under your rule, every day,

there are murders, thefts and crimes

against women, and law and order is in shambles.

By cancelling the Parandur airport project,

Tamil Nadu’s development for fifteen years

You've taken us backward.

You promised farmers full loan waivers.

But you didn't do that properly either.

You said every family would get six cylinders

a year. Now, only eligible people

get three cylinders, pulling the rug out from under them.

You said the women's entitlement amount was 2,500

rupees. Yet you're still giving the same 1,000 rupees

that we gave. About many other promises,

you've kept your mouth shut. What you said then was one thing.

What you're doing now is another. People voted for change,

especially our youth.

What change has really come now?

Consider whether this is the right change.

Which is a government with administrative competence,

and which is an incompetent government, you should understand.

Specifically, what I want to emphasize to our party brethren

is this:

The people did not give us a full mandate.

We could not form the government. Therefore, under this government,

when people are affected by the mistakes being made,

we must not think, “What does it matter to us?” Such a thought

does not exist in our ideology at all.

The DMK has never considered taking power

a defeat.

Just as a coin

has two sides

This is another facet of public service,

as I see it.

Whether we're in power or not, for Tamil Nadu's

rights and development,

and for the people, we must keep fighting.

We fought for their grandfather.

We fought for their father.

Now, we'll fight for them.

This is the history of our DMK. That

history will never change. Nor should it.

Thank you. Goodbye.