"DMK Being Called CMC Government - Corruption, Mafia, Crime": PM Modi

Setting the stage for a high-stakes battle for the Tamil Nadu Assembly election, Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed a large gathering at Maduranthakam near Chennai on Friday and declared that the countdown for the DMK's exit has begun.

Dubbing the DMK the 'CMC' government, the Prime Minister said it now stood for "Corruption, Mafia, and Crime" and asserted that the people of Tamil Nadu have decided to uproot the party and vote for change. 

"Tamil Nadu now has a government that has nothing to do with democracy and accountability. The DMK government is only serving one family. If someone has to rise within the party, they only have three or four routes: dynasty, corruption, abusing women or abusing our culture," he said in a possible dig at party chief MK Stalin's son Udhayanidhi Stalin and his controversial remarks on Sanatan Dharma.

The NDA government at the Centre, the BJP leader said, has done unprecedented work for the development of Tamil Nadu. The Congress and DMK were also in power at the Centre before 2014, he pointed out, and said his government has allotted three times the money they did to Tamil Nadu. 

"In the name of the welfare of SC/STs and other disadvantaged groups, their government indulged only in corruption," he alleged.

Mafia, Law And Order

Promising that the NDA government will work for the upliftment of farmers and fishermen, the PM said drug and liquor mafias have prospered under the Stalin government. 

"There have been allegations of people in the DMK being hand-in-glove with the drug mafia. Every vote you cast in favour of the NDA will be a vote to free Tamil Nadu of the drug menace," he said. 

Urging people to vote for a double-engine government in Tamil Nadu - NDA in power at both the Centre and state - the PM said this will help attract investment. 

Commending J Jayalalithaa, the late chief of BJP ally AIADMK, for ensuring law and order and women's safety in Tamil Nadu, the Prime Minister said the DMK has failed the women of the state in this regard. "Women now feel unsafe. The NDA will ensure women's safety," he assured. 

Referring to the Deepam row - the dispute over lighting a sacred lamp during the Karthigai Deepam festival - the PM also alleged that while BJP leaders supported devotees, the DMK decided to give more importance to votebank politics.