In a video which went viral, DMK MP Dayanidhi Maran remarked that migrant workers from UP and Bihar end up doing menial jobs like construction work and “cleaning toilets and roads for us” in Tamil Nadu.
New Delhi: The BJP on Sunday slammed Opposition INDIA bloc over alleged derisive remarks by DMK MP Dayanidhi Maran against migrant workers from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar wherein he had allegedly said that Hindi speakers from these states usually end up doing menial jobs like construction work and “cleaning toilets and roads for us” in Tamil Nadu.
“Hindi-speaking people who migrate to Tamil Nadu usually do construction work and clean roads and toilets for us,” the DMK leader said Saturday while addressing a public meeting in Tamil Nadu, adding more fuel to the raging North-South debate which was triggered after the BJP sweeped the recently-held Assembly polls in the three Hindi heartland states of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Rajasthan.
#DMK MP #DayanidhiMaran says that individuals from #Bihar and #UP, who only learn Hindi, migrate to TN, engage in construction work, and perform tasks like cleaning roads and 🚽 TOILETS🚽
This is depicted as a consequence of learning #Hindi. #30000கோடி_எங்கடா pic.twitter.com/9a2AzaIqeN
— Aryabhata | ஆர்யபட்டா 🕉️ (@Aryabhata99) December 23, 2023
In a sharp response to Maran’s comments, BJP said the Hindi-speaking states will teach the opposition alliance a lesson in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
In the video clip, Maran purportedly said that migrant workers from UP and Bihar who had learnt “only Hindi”, construct houses, clean roads and toilets in Tamil Nadu, after learning Tamil. “This is the scenario if Hindi is learnt.”
‘Bihar situation created by DMK ally’
Responding to Maran’s comments, senior BJP leader and former Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad alleged that labourers from Bihar migrate to Tamil Nadu for work “due to the situations created by their (DMK) ally Nitish Kumar in Bihar”.
“They should stop insulting (people of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh) like this,” said Prasad.
“But if someone does labour, will you insult him like this?” the Patna Sahib MP asked, accusing the DMK leaders of trying to create divisions in the country with their objectionable remarks against “Sanatan, Bihar’s values and culture and now labour”
“This India is one, anyone can go anywhere to work,” he added.
‘Totally objectionable’
Terming the DMK MP’s comments as “totally objectionable” BJP national spokesperson and former Union minister Syed Shahnawaz Hussain asked why INDIA bloc parties and their leaders allegedly “look down” on the people of Bihar and UP.
“This is totally objectionable. It should be vehemently condemned,” the BJP leader said, and asked, “Why INDI Alliance leaders look down on people of Bihar-UP in such a way and why do they insult them? Why are people from JD-U, RJD and Congress silent on this?”
They insulted “Bihar DNA” earlier but the opposition parties remained silent, Hussain charged in an apparent reference to a comment of Congress leader and Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy.
“People of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh will give a befitting reply to INDI Alliance people and teach them a lesson,” he added.
‘INDI alliance condones DMK’s remarks’
BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla said such kind of objectionable comments “constantly” being made by the senior leaders of the DMK show that it is acceptable to “INDI Alliance and it is part of their (poll) strategy”.
“This is not a coincidence, it is a well thought out experiment. The Congress also endorses it. The Congress which has done its politics from North India, particularly Uttar Pradesh, is today down to abusing these states,” Poonawalla charged.
“This is the reality of INDI Alliance,” the BJP leader added.
‘Appeasement policy’
Union minister Nityanand Rai lashed out at the DMK over Maran’s remarks and said this is their “appeasement policy” for votes.
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi has enhanced the dignity of our brothers and sisters who are engaged in Swachhata Abhiyan (cleanliness mission), and you are insulting (them). This is appeasement policy…For this, you (DMK leader) will have to apologise to the country,” Rai told reporters
He also dared all other constituents of the opposition INDIA bloc to oppose and condemn Maran’s remarks about Hindi speaking people from North India.
“Dayanidhi Maran should hear this: it is Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharat and no one can create north Bharat and south Bharat division. ‘Ek Bharat, Shreshtha Bharat’ is in the making here under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi. Everyone has respect in this country including those who clean toilets and roads,” Rai added.
Tejashwi condemns Maran’s remarks
Meanwhile, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav, whose party, the RJD, is a constituent of the INDIA bloc like the DMK, condemned alliance MP’s comments, saying that like the RJD, the DMK headed by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin, was a party that believed in social justice and it was unbecoming of a leader of such a party to have made such a remark.
“We look upon DMK as a party which shares our ideal of social justice. Its leaders should avoid saying things that run counter to the ideal”, said Yadav, who is known to share personal equations with Stalin.
The North vs South Debate
A north vs south debate has been raging since Congress’ victory in Telangana and the BJP’s conquest of the Hindi- heartland states in the recently held State Assembly polls, with some leaders passing derisive comments against Hindi speakers, calling north Indian states as “Gaumutra” (cow urine) states and claiming that a “clear line has been drawn” between the north and south India after the recently held elections.
Earlier this month, following the declaration of poll results, DMK leader DNV Senthilkumar S, had sparked a controversy by calling the Hindi heartland as ‘Gaumutra (cow urine) states’. The DMK MP later issued an apology after the ruling BJP had accused him of “dividing the country” into north and south.
Recently, the divide even creeped inside the INDIA bloc when Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar asked DMK leader DMK leader TR Baalu to provide an English translation of his speech during a meeting of the Opposition alliance.
“We call our country Hindustan and Hindi is our national language. We should know the language,” Nitish Kumar said even as RJD MP Manoj Jha offered to translate Baalu’s speech.
(With PTI inputs)