Kanniyakumari, Mar 1 (UNI) Congress Leader Rahul Gandhi on
Monday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi and RSS for
attempting to belittle the Tamil language and culture and said
it was his (Rahul's) duty to protect them.
On the last leg of his three-day campaign tour in the southern
districts of Tamil Nadu ahead of the April six Assembly elections,
he said he wanted to share two things to the people.
First, he said the Union government headed by Mr Modi was
not giving respect to Tamil language and culture.
It was regrettable that Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami,
instead of putforthing people's issues, has been acting on the
diktats of Mr Modi.
Mr Modi and RSS were trying to belittle Tamil language and
culture. They were trying to bring in One Nation, One language
and One culture, he said and sought to know whether Tamil and
Bengali are not Indian languages and Tamil culture is not part
of Indian culture.
'I am there...it is my duty to protect the Tamil language and culture.
It is my duty to protect all languages, culture and religions', Rahul
said.
Stating that Tamil Nadu was a guiding state to the entire
country, he said late Chief Minister K Kamaraj was the first
Indian citizen to introduce the noon meal scheme in schools.
'Despite experts warning that economy will be hit if the noon
meal scheme was implemented, Mr Kamaraj ignored it and went
ahead with the scheme. Thanks to the efforts of Mr Kamaraj,
this scheme is being implemented not only in Tamil Nadu, but
in the entire country', Mr Rahul said.
'Credit for this goes to Mr Kamaraj. That is why I said
Tamil Nadu is the guiding state for the rest of the country',
he added.
Earlier, Mr Rahul, who was given a rousing reception by
enthusiastic Congress workers, paid floral tributes at
the memorial of former Kanniyakumari MP H Vasanthakumar,
who died of corona.
Rahul had a good time, enjoyed the rural ambience by having
a refreshing Palm fruit, locally called as 'Nungu', at
Achankulam and also had a tender coconut.
He also interacted with the students, staff and sisters of Carmel
Matha Higher Secondary School and with students of St Joseph’s
Matric Higher Secondary School.
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