PM Modi in Tamil Nadu: 5 key takeaways from Prime Minister's campaign rally

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday addressed a rally in Tamil Nadu’s Vellore ahead of Lok Sabha elections 2024. Later in the day, Modi will also hold a rally in Nagpur.

The southern state of Tamil Nadu will go to polls on April 19 in a single phase.

From raking up the Katchatheevu issue to promising people to make the state a “Viksit Tamil Nadu,” here are five key takeaways from PM Modi’s election rally in Vellore:

- Accusing the Congress and Tamil Nadu’s ruling government Dravida Munnetra Kazgham (DMK) of keeping the people of the state “in the dark”, the prime minister said, “They callously gave away the Katchatheevu island to Sri Lanka and meted out injustice to our fishermen. The NDA government has been continuously getting our fishermen released and getting them back home.

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Congress and DMK have kept the people of Tamil Nadu in dark.

They callously gave away the Katchatheevu island to Sri Lanka and meted out injustice to our fishermen.

The NDA government has been continuously getting our fishermen released and getting them back home.

- PM… pic.twitter.com/p51Gk5rlC8

— BJP (@BJP4India) April 10, 2024

- “The DMK party has ’earned’ the ‘first copyright’ on corruption. It has been badly looting the state of Tamil Nadu,” PM Modi said, adding sand smugglers have caused a loss of Rs. 4,600 crore to Tamil Nadu in just two years.

#WATCH | Tamil Nadu: Addressing a public rally in Vellore, PM Narendra Modi says, "...whose protection do these drug mafias have? Which family does the drug mafia arrested by NCB belong to?... DMK Party makes people fight in the name of region, religion and caste. DMK knows that… pic.twitter.com/7RbHVAkOk4

— ANI (@ANI) April 10, 2024

“You can imagine, how big a ‘game of loot’ is going on here,” Modi said.

- Modi also emphasised the need to promote the Tamil language and said, “At the United Nations, I try to speak in the Tamil language so that the whole world knows that our Tamil is the oldest language in the world.”

#WATCH | Tamil Nadu: Addressing a public rally in Vellore, PM Narendra Modi says, "...At the United Nations, I try to speak in Tamil language so that the whole world knows that our Tamil is the oldest language in the world..."

"As MP of Kashi, I have come to invite you to make… pic.twitter.com/yWBTHGGd1h

— ANI (@ANI) April 10, 2024

He added, “As MP of Kashi, I have come to invite you to make Kashi Tamil Sangam more glorious. Secondly, I was born in Gujarat and many families from Gujarat live here too. As a Gujarati, I invite you to the Saurashtra Tamil Sangam.”

- Highlighting the developments made under Bhartiya Janata Party’s governance, Modi said, “The NDA Government has been fulfilling the aspirations of the people of Vellore. Soon, the airport under the UDAN scheme will be operational here. It will place Vellore on the air connectivity map of India.”

- “Together, we will have to make a ‘Viksit Tamil Nadu’ and a ‘Viksit Bharat’. In the last 10 years, the Central Government of the NDA has built the foundations for a developed India. Before 2014, India was famous for scams, and her economy was nothing but a shattered mess,” Modi said.