NE NEWS SERVICE
COIMBATORE, FEB 24
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami has asserted that minorities need not fear the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Population Register (NPR) here on Monday.
Addressing reporters at Coimbatore airport, Palaniswami said the government had already made its stand clear on the fear being expressed by a section of the minorities.
Some were unnecessarily trying to create fear among the Muslims on the National Population Register, and wanted to blame the government by spreading false information, he said adding that minorities would not be affected by the CAA or the NPR in the state.
He said the National Citizens Register (NCR) and NPR were taken once in 10 years and it was DMK which started the NPR in the state in 2011.
On increasing debts, the Chief Minister attributed it to the spending on various developmental works and joined issue with DMK president M K Stalin who had said there were lesser debts during the DMK regime.
Palaniswami said prices of essential commodities during the AIADMK regime were much higher than they were during the DMK period and accordingly the debt on the exchequer had also increased.
Has the DMK released a white paper on Rs one lakh crore debt, he asked and said that the present government was paying interest to the debts created by DMK.
The chief minister came down heavily on DMK organising secretary R S Bharathi on his recent comments on media, Dalits and also on temples and priests. Stating that former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa’s birth anniversary has been announced as Girl Child Protection Day, he said that according to the National Crime Record Bureau, Chennai and Coimbatore were considered as the safest cities where women can walk freely without fear during night as CCTVs were installed across the cities, the Chief Minister added.
