'Disregard For India's Sovereignty': DMK Ad Featuring Chinese Flag With PM Modi, Stalin Photos Faces BJP Ire

Tamil Nadu BJP chief criticises DMK’s alleged pro-China stance in an advertisement featuring PM Modi and CM Stalin in front of a Chinese-flagged rocket.

Tamil Nadu BJP chief K Annamalai on Wednesday slammed Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) over an advertisement featuring a photo of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister MK Stalin, along with a space rocket that bears the flag of China.

The ad is apparently for the new ISRO rocket launch site in Kulasekarapattinam town in Thoothukudi district, where PM Modi is laying the foundation stone. Slamming the ruling party, Annamalai said the advertisement by DMK Minister Thiru Anita Radhakrishnan to leading Tamil dailies today is a manifestation of DMK’s commitment to China and their total disregard for our country’s sovereignty.

‘Amount of desperation’

“DMK, a party fighting high on corruption, has been desperate to paste stickers ever since the announcement of ISRO’s second launch pad in Kulasekarapatinam was released,” Annamalai wrote on his social media platform X. Further criticising DMK, he said the “amount of desperation only proves their attempt to bury their past misdeeds, but we must remind them that DMK was why the Satish Dhawan Space Centre is today in Andhra Pradesh and not Tamil Nadu.

“When the 1st launch pad of ISRO was conceptualised, TN was the first choice of ISRO. TN CM Thiru Annadurai, who could not attend the meeting because of severe shoulder pain, deputed Mathiyazhagan, one of his ministers, for the meeting,” he said. “ISRO officials were kept waiting for a long, and Mathiyazhagan was finally brought to the meeting in an “inebriated state” & was incoherent throughout the meeting. And, this was the treatment our country’s space programme received 60 years ago,” he said.

Earlier in August last year, Union Minister Jitendra Singh informed Parliament that the government had approved the establishment of a new spaceport in Kulasekarapattinam for launching the Small Satellite Launch Vehicles (SSLV) developed by ISRO. The Indian space agency plans to launch the small satellites on a commercial basis from the new spaceport. Launching small satellites from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh incurs higher expenses due to the longer distance the rocket must travel. The new spaceport will cover an area of 2,000 acres and will boost the growth and development of the region.