Modi speaks of ‘wiping tears’ in Jaffna

Coming all the way from the national capital to Tamil Nadu, where the BJP is making a serious bid to dislodge the AIADMK government, Prime Minister Narendra Modi chose to take a soft line on chief minister Jayalalithaa. This was quite in contrast to the concerted attack on the AIADMK leader by several Union ministers in the past few weeks.

Addressing rallies in Chennai and Hosur after a public meeting in Palakkad in Kerala on Friday, Modi also preferred not to single out AIADMK and was more aggressive in taking on the DMK-Congress alliance, which held its rally on Thursday, alluding to a series of scams in the erstwhile UPA government at the Centre.

He also joined issue with Congress president Sonia Gandhi who had said the Modi government did not render any substantial help to flood hit Chennai. “The Delhi sarkar, you must have seen, acts faster than state parties when there is a regional issue.All of Delhi came to your help when the rivers overflowed and people were staring at death. We sent helicopters and ships for rescue,” he said, while also making a veiled attack on AIADMK, which has been accused of poor manage ment of the flood situation.

“A PM can speak only positively without attacking personalities,” said senior party leader L Ganesan who picked a verse from Tamil saint poet Thiruvalluvar’s Thirukurral to help Modi embellish his speech, which was an appeal to people to choose the best person to govern under circumstances

Modi also took an emotive route on the issue of Sri Lankan Tamils saying, “I was the first PM to visit Jaffna and wipe their tears. In last 20 years, for the homes that were lost – 50,000 houses are to be given; 30,000 houses are already given,” he said. The PM also recapitulated how his government rescued five TN fishermen from the gallows in Sri Lanka and led to the release of missionary Father Prem by the Taliban in Afghanistan. (Times of India)