Chennai: Inaugurating infrastructure tasks, invoking Tamil poets and hailing the state as “one in all India’s development engines”, Prime Minister Narendra Modi Saturday made a robust pitch to Tamil Nadu – the place no nationwide celebration has been in a position to dominate the political discourse for over 5 many years – simply forward of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
In capital Chennai, the PM inaugurated infrastructure tasks price greater than Rs 5,000 crore and identified that “Tamil Nadu has been allotted an all-time excessive funds of over Rs 6,000 crore for railway infrastructure”.
Emphasising the BJP-led NDA authorities’s deal with the state, the PM informed a public assembly at Alstom floor within the metropolis that “Tamil Nadu’s growth is of precedence to us”, including that the tasks he had inaugurated could be an enormous enhance to the state.
“When high quality infrastructure creates jobs right here, incomes rise and Tamil Nadu grows – and when Tamil Nadu grows, India grows,” he stated. The PM additionally spoke about his love for “Tamil language, Tamil tradition and the vibe of Chennai”.
On the public assembly, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK president M.Ok. Stalin spoke concerning the significance of the Centre’s help to state. “States have the obligation to fulfil individuals’s wants. So, I want to emphasise that the cooperation of the central authorities is critical to fulfill the monetary wants of states,” he stated.
Stalin additional urged the PM to launch funds for infrastructure tasks. “I urge the PM to expedite a number of ongoing vital highway tasks. I request the PM to extend funds for railway tasks in Tamil Nadu and for different pending tasks within the state,” stated the CM.
Modi had landed within the state at 3 pm Saturday and was obtained on the airport by CM Stalin, Governor R.N. Ravi, Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, DMK MPs TR Baalu and Kanimozhi, and DMK state ministers Udhayanidhi Stalin and Thangam Thennarasu, amongst others.
Town was beneath five-tier safety, with round 26,000 police personnel on obligation in Chennai and Tambaram.
The BJP had organised a grand reception for the PM with cultural occasions, and numerous celebration cadres gathered at a number of factors alongside the routes the place the PM and his convoy have been to journey. They chanted slogans of “Modi ki jai” and “Bharat Mata ki jai” and showered the PM’s automobile with flowers.
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We end work even earlier than time, says Modi
The primary challenge inaugurated by Modi was a Rs 1,260-crore state-of-the-art Built-in Terminal Constructing (Part-1) at Chennai Worldwide Airport. Stalin, Governor Ravi, Scindia and Minister of State Dr L Murugan have been current on the event.
In line with the Prime Minister’s Workplace (PMO), the brand new terminal constructing “will enhance the passenger serving capability of the airport from 23 Million Passengers Per Annum (MPPA) to 30 MPPA”.
The PM additionally flagged off the Chennai-Coimbatore Vande Bharat Specific practice, and inaugurated a Rs 294-crore gauge conversion part between Thiruthuraipoondi and Agasthiyampalli. He additional laid the inspiration stone for highway tasks price Rs 3,700 crore, together with a 7.3-km elevated hall in Madurai and a 24.4-km four-lane highway off NH-785.
Whereas launching the tasks, the PM drew comparisons with the erstwhile UPA authorities in energy on the Centre (2004 to 2014). “Earlier, infrastructure tasks meant delay however now they imply supply. This journey from delay to supply has occurred due to work tradition. We really feel accountable for each rupee that our taxpayers pay. We work with a selected deadline and end work even earlier than time,” stated the PM.
He additionally identified that whereas “Tamil Nadu has been allotted an all-time excessive funds of over Rs 6,000 crore for railway infrastructure, the common quantity allotted per 12 months between 2009 and 2014 was lower than Rs 900 crore”.
Speaking concerning the final 9 years of the NDA authorities in energy, Modi stated that “between 2014 and 2023, practically 2,000 km of nationwide highways had been added in Tamil Nadu, whereas 800 km was added within the state between 2004 and 2014”.
In 2014-2015, the PM stated, funding within the growth and upkeep of nationwide highways in Tamil Nadu “was Rs 1,200 crore which elevated six-fold to Rs 8,200 crore in 2022-2023”.
The PM additionally drew parallels between the whole infrastructure allocation within the nation and stated: “Now we have put aside a file quantity of Rs 10 lakh crore for infrastructure – that is 5 occasions greater than that in 2014. The quantity put aside for the railways can also be a file quantity.”
In the course of the occasions on Saturday, a whole lot of camaraderie was seen between PM Modi and CM Stalin, with the 2 leaders usually noticed exchanging smiles and holding arms.
Stalin has, nevertheless, been one of many strongest voices in opposition to the BJP forward of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. On at the least two public occasions hosted by the DMK since March, with many opposition leaders in attendance, the CM referred to as for all like-minded events to unite in opposition to the BJP.
PM refers to Tamil poets
The BJP doesn’t have a robust base in Tamil Nadu and will win solely 4 of the 20 seats it had contested within the 234-member meeting within the 2021 state election. Within the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, it couldn’t win a single seat from the state.
The celebration has thus been aggressively making an attempt to broaden within the state and PM Modi has made a number of makes an attempt to forge a Tamil connection throughout his speeches up to now.
At Vivekananda Home in Chennai Saturday, the place the PM took half within the a hundred and twenty fifth anniversary celebrations of Sri Ramakrishna Math, Modi quoted the Tamil poet Thiruvalluvar and recited traces from the Thirukkural in Tamil.
He has quoted Tamil poets resembling Kaniyan Poongundranar, Avvaiyar, Subramania Bharati earlier as nicely. Throughout his deal with on the United Nations Common Meeting in 2019, he quoted Poongundranar, saying “yaadhum oore yaavarum kelir (each place is every person residents are kin)”.
In 2020, addressing troops throughout a shock go to to Ladakh, Modi quoted Thiruvalluvar and referred to poetess Avvaiyar in a 2020 ‘Mann Ki Baat’ deal with. Throughout a go to to Chennai final 12 months, Modi addressed the general public with a preferred verse of nationalist poet Bharati and stated that in each subject somebody from Tamil Nadu was excelling.
In the meantime, the Congress on Saturday tried to stage a black flag protest in opposition to the PM for “destroying democracy by undemocratically eradicating Rahul Gandhi”. In line with reviews, the police seized over 2,000 black balloons from the celebration cadre in Sathyamoorthy Bhavan, Thousand Lights, Royapettah and Anna Salai.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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