Chennai: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday launched a frontal attack on the DMK accusing it of insulting [ISRO] scientists by using the China’s flag symbol on a rocket in an advertisement issued by Fisheries Minister Anitha Radhakrishnan.
In a goof-up, the advertisement, which hailed the commencement of works for the construction of a launchpad at Kulasekarapattinam, carried an image of a rocket painted with China flag symbol at the missile end.
“DMK is a party that does not work but seeks to take false credit for central schemes. They paste their stickers on our schemes. Now they have crossed limits by pasting China’s sticker to take credit for the ISRO launchpad in Tamil Nadu,” Modi charged at a meeting in Tirunelveli in south Tamil Nadu. X
Alleging that the DMK was not ready to accept India’s progress in the space sector, he said, “with the taxes that you pay, they give advertisements and do not even include a picture of India’s rocket in them.” He charged the DMK did not want to present India’s space success in front of the world. “They insulted our scientists, our space sector, and your tax money. Now it is high time that the DMK is punished for their deeds,” he said converting the official function into a Lok Sabha poll campaign platform.
DMK MP Kanimozhi, who was on the stage when the Prime Minister launched the broadside against her party, later in the day said the China image was a human error.
“I do not know from where the person who did the artwork found this picture,” she said adding she did not think India has China an enemy country. “I have seen that the Prime Minister has invited the Chinese PM and they have gone to Mamallapuram. Just because you do not want to accept the truth, you are finding reasons to divert the issue,” she claimed.
Earlier Modi accused Tamil Nadu government of not co-operating with the centre’s development ideology. “I have come to Tamil Nadu for the service of the land and to change its fate. The Centre will cross all these hurdles to execute development projects in Tamil Nadu,” he said.
He reeled out statistics to back his contention that the NDA Government had funnelled more money for the development of Tamil Nadu than the erstwhile UPA regime.
