Express News Service
NEW DELHI: The debate in Lok Sabh on the no-confidence motion on Thursday saw Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman taking jibes at the ruling DMK government in Tamil Nadu on the issue of women’s safety.
Attacking the DMK in her speech, Sitharaman recalled an incident wherein former Tamil Nadu’s former chief minister Jayalalithaa’s saree was pulled in the assembly in 1989. Countering DMK MP Kanimozhi’s comments on sexual violence against women in Manipur, Sitharaman said, “You speak of the Kaurava Sabha, of Draupadi. Have you forgotten Jayalalithaa? I agree that women are suffering, be it in Manipur or Rajasthan or Delhi, we have to take it seriously, but there should be no politics over it,” said the minister.
Sitharaman then recalled the incident, which occurred in TN Assembly on March 25, 1989, as Jayalalithaa’s saree was pulled in the Tamil Nadu assembly. “She was a leader of the opposition. DMK members heckled and laughed at her.” “Jayalalithaa’s saree was pulled. The DMK members who were seated there heckled her and laughed at her… Has the DMK forgotten Jayalalithaa? You pulled her saree, you demeaned her. That day Jayalalithaa took an oath that she will never come to the House unless she becomes the CM. Two years later, she returned as the CM,” Sitharaman said.
The minister also targeted Kanimozhi for her remarks on the installation of the Sengol in the new Parliament House. “Was the Tamil pride not hurt when the Sengol was used as a walking stick of a former PM and kept in a private museum? Narendra Modi restored it to its glory,” she said.
The minister also took exception to the DMK’s allegation that the Centre is trying to impose Hindi. “Prime Minister is implementing the spirit of Silapathikaram in its spirit. Maposi wrote in 1951 that we are Tamils, not Dravidians; our motherland is Tamilakam, not Dravidam. He talks of India’s oneness, but a separatist language influences the kind of language that Kanimozhi speaks,” she said.
NEW DELHI: The debate in Lok Sabh on the no-confidence motion on Thursday saw Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman taking jibes at the ruling DMK government in Tamil Nadu on the issue of women’s safety.
Attacking the DMK in her speech, Sitharaman recalled an incident wherein former Tamil Nadu’s former chief minister Jayalalithaa’s saree was pulled in the assembly in 1989. Countering DMK MP Kanimozhi’s comments on sexual violence against women in Manipur, Sitharaman said, “You speak of the Kaurava Sabha, of Draupadi. Have you forgotten Jayalalithaa? I agree that women are suffering, be it in Manipur or Rajasthan or Delhi, we have to take it seriously, but there should be no politics over it,” said the minister.
Sitharaman then recalled the incident, which occurred in TN Assembly on March 25, 1989, as Jayalalithaa’s saree was pulled in the Tamil Nadu assembly. “She was a leader of the opposition. DMK members heckled and laughed at her.” “Jayalalithaa’s saree was pulled. The DMK members who were seated there heckled her and laughed at her… Has the DMK forgotten Jayalalithaa? You pulled her saree, you demeaned her. That day Jayalalithaa took an oath that she will never come to the House unless she becomes the CM. Two years later, she returned as the CM,” Sitharaman said.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });
The minister also targeted Kanimozhi for her remarks on the installation of the Sengol in the new Parliament House. “Was the Tamil pride not hurt when the Sengol was used as a walking stick of a former PM and kept in a private museum? Narendra Modi restored it to its glory,” she said.
The minister also took exception to the DMK’s allegation that the Centre is trying to impose Hindi. “Prime Minister is implementing the spirit of Silapathikaram in its spirit. Maposi wrote in 1951 that we are Tamils, not Dravidians; our motherland is Tamilakam, not Dravidam. He talks of India’s oneness, but a separatist language influences the kind of language that Kanimozhi speaks,” she said.
