Chennai:DMK president M K Stalin on Saturday said no single state can be ignored by the government at the Centre and asserted India was not Hindi speaking states alone. Buoyed by his party's performance in the Lok Sabha election, the Dravidian party chief for the first time said his party would take the initiative to oppose the BJP -albeit without naming it explicitly- in other states by working with outfits in those regions.
"The DMK will take constructive measures to replicate the Tamil Nadu model (of propping up secularism and DMK's victory in polls) in other states as well by coordinating with forces committed to communal harmony," he said in an open letter to party cadres.
When Prime Minister Narendra Modi was elected leader of the NDA, Stalin said this was the time to support and embrace people of all identities, states, adding "the days when Hindi speaking states alone constituted India has vanished." The future was all about "constructive politics that centred around the states," the DMK chief said.
"No single state can be ignored whichever party took over reins of power at the Centre," Stalin asserted. The DMK's voice will reverberate in Parliament and State Assembly to protect the people's interests, he said.
The DMK has won 23 seats and the front (Secular Progressive Alliance) led by it has won 37 of 38 seats in Tamil Nadu and the lone seat in Puducherry (Congress) as well. DMK will continue its "journey of victory," to protect people's interests, he said.
The historic win of his party-led front in the Lok Sabha polls showed the "secular approach," of the people which was nurtured by Dravidian stalwarts including reformist leader Periyar E V Ramasamy.
The people's verdict in Tamil Nadu showed that Dravidian movement -a reference to the DMK and a pointer to the Dravidian ideology which includes secularism and social justice- can never be decimated, he said.