Minutes after DMK President MK Stalin announced his big electoral promises for Tamil Nadu, Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) Chief Kamal Haasan accused the DMK of lifting MNM’s ideas. His accusation was based on his earlier announcement on providing honorarium for homemakers in the state. According to reports, Kamal Haasan said that the DMK’s Vision Document is a copy of his party’s agenda and pointed out that he had announced 50 lakh jobs for the youth of Tamil Nadu four days ago.
Speaking at a public meeting, he reiterated that the reason he keeps saying this was because ‘they will claim that they came up with these ideas’. Calling the election day as ‘bhogi’ which is synonymous in Tamil culture to get rid of old things to make way and space for new and better things, Kamal Haasan said that this April 6, it is time for the old parties to make way.
Calling the Dravidian parties a ‘corrupt conglomerate’, Kamal Haasan also urged people to vote for MNM to ‘save the state’. He also stated that it was disappointing to see the Congress, which has a legacy of fighting against the British, siding with ‘looters like the DMK’.
On Sunday, MK Stalin unveiled the 10-year vision document of DMK in a massive rally in Trichy, with seven big promises under various heads. ‘Stalinin 7 Urudhimozhigal’ or ‘Stalin’s seven promises’ touch upon economy, agriculture, rural and urban development, social justice, water, education and health.
Apart from the Rs 1,000 honorarium (urimai thogai - amount as a right of women) to homemakers, Stalin’s vision document also promised to increase Tamil Nadu’s per capita income to Rs 4 lakh, tripling the state’s expenditure on education and health, putting an end to the practise of manual scavenging and doubling scholarship amounts for students from the SC, ST and OBC communities.