Chennai: In a rare display of unity, bitter foes AIADMK and DMK, the two prominent political parties of Tamilnadu, extended their firm support to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to defend the nation’s sovereignty and territorial integrity in the wake of face-off with China in Ladakh.
Speaking at an all-party meet conducted through video conference, Tamilnadu Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam, who is the AIADMK’s coordinator, said his party would firmly stand behind Modi, the Union government, and the Armed Forces in defending the country’s borders, and would back all proposed measures to be taken by them in this regard.
Panneerselvam, who paid tributes to martyred soldiers at Galwan Valley, said that the country has been subjected to facing this aggressive posturing from the Chinese side, during the ongoing pandemic.
“Not an inch of the Indian territory will ever be conceded. As our leader J Jayalalithaa had repeatedly emphasised, the territorial integrity of the country must be preserved at any cost. There can be no compromise on this aspect,” he said.
DMK president M K Stalin said his party stood firmly, with the Prime Minister, at this moment, in regard to any steps he must take to protect the integrity, and sovereignty of India.
“We will not retreat, when the battle cry is sounded. Let us go forth, as a country together, and restore, the pride of India,” he added.
He welcomed the statement of the Prime Minister, that India will protect her self-respect, and every single inch of its territory, from any external aggression.
“The DMK, and the people of Tamilnadu, are always at the forefront, when it comes to defending our country,’ he said. Stalin recalled that during the 1962 Indo-China war, the DMK was the first political party to condemn China”.
“We collected money, and donated it for the Indias Defence Fund,” he added.