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| Edited By: Latha Srinivasan |Source: DNA webdesk |Updated: Apr 24, 2016, 09:06 PM IST
The election campaigns are in full swing in the Tamil Nadu and the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) leader has been busy with his election rallies. Dr Anbumani Ramadoss, who served as the Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare, has been campaigning for change in the state. Set to file his nomination on Monday at Pennagaram, Dharmapuri, Dr Ramadoss has clearly charted out his vision for the development of Tamil Nadu and its people. He is passionate, confident and strongly believes that he and the PMK can achieve far more than what has been done in the state in the last 50 years.
In this exclusive chat with dna, Dr Ramadoss talks his party, the upcoming elections and more.
PMK is somehow perceived as a caste-based (Vanniyar) party.
It’s definitely a wrong perception! My party General Secretary is a Dalit and the Treasurer is a Muslim. My party has members of all caste, creed and religions. For the elections, we have given representation to Brahmins, from the Iyers to the Iyengars to Reddiars, Pillamars to Naidus and all communities. In fact, PMK is the only party in this elections to have given representation to 48 Dalits. In Tamil Nadu, there are only 46 reserved constituencies but we have given representation to Dalits even in general constituencies. So categorising PMK as a caste-based party is wrong and this is a perception that is created by our enemies who could not tolerate our growth. We are a party for social justice.
PMK has a stronghold in the northern territories of Tamil Nadu, but where do you stand in an urban area like Chennai?
You can go out and ask youngsters in the city who they would like to see as CM. Out of ten, at least six to seven will say Anubumani and they want a young, educated person. That’s the sort of attitude we see not only in Chennai but all over Tamil Nadu. In the Western and Southern districts, people are talking about the fact that they want a change and want a person like Anbumani to come to power. In fact, we are very clear-cut in our poll manifesto and DMK has copied 60% of our poll manifesto. We are completely accepted by all sections and especially in the urban areas. The concept of ‘Anubumani For Change’ has taken on in a big way and there is a silent revolution happening in Tamil Nadu; in every household people are saying enough of DMK and AIADMK, we’ll vote for Anbumani.
What plans do you have for the youth of Tamil Nadu?
There are basically six things which I’m going to do. I’m going to do away with alcohol and corruption. Then I’m going to give them four things— free CBSE-standard education, free high-quality healthcare, focus on agriculture and give them employment. I’ve promised that I will give one crore (people) employment.
How do you plan to create one crore jobs in the state?
We have a coastline of 1078 km. We have six major ports and 20 minor ports. So I’m going to make Tamil Nadu an international warehousing hub like Singapore, Hong Kong, Rotterdam or New York. That way a lot of employment is created. Secondly, I’m going to make Chennai and Coimbatore health BPO hubs. I plan to make these cities, along with Madurai, health research hubs. When I was Union Minister for Health, I knew the people at John Hopkins, Harvard and Stanford Universities. We’re going to tie up with these institutions for research-oriented programmes. Chennai and Coimbatore will also serve medical tourism.
Chennai was supposed to the Detroit of India but it has died down now, so I am going to revive that concept. I’m going to create five regional economic zones in the state for administration and we’ll have a Regional Economic Commissioner for each zone and they will travel around India and the world to get investments for their zone. I’m going to also start special agro-economic zones in 31 districts and set up co-operative clusters. For those who wants to set up a start-up, the government of Tamil Nadu will give an interest-free loan of up to Rs 10 lakh. We will also promote pilgrim tourism in the state and I’ll revive the tourism industry which is a huge money-spinner. There is enough opportunity for youth employment and this is what I plan to roll-out.
Why has prohibition become one of the key issues this election?
Do you know who initiated this?
Yes, it was you.
We have been talking about this for the last 26 years. Prohibition has not suddenly jumped in. It was our initiation and all these years we have been filing cases, conducting huge conferences, making lots of noise and nearly 16,000 of our women cadres were in jail for 30 days. We have filed cases in the Supreme Court and closed down 604 TASMAC shops all along the national highways. The women in Tamil Nadu want prohibition because of our initiation. And the other parties, knowing that, slowly jumped into this in the last six to eight months. Before that, none of the other parties spoke about prohibition. It made a huge positive impact for us. So finally DMK and even Jayalalithaa— who even last month said prohibition was not possible—today says that she will bring it in a step-by-step manner because she knows she is going to lose. People in Tamil Nadu want prohibition.
Do you think prohibition will work?
Absolutely! I have given a blueprint on how prohibition can work and what is the alternative source of revenue, alternative source of employment, how I’ll rehabilitate them, how I’ll bring in laws to control illicit liquor and so on. This is part of our poll manifesto.
Other than the age factor, what makes you a stronger chief ministerial candidate than the other four?
People have gone through 50 long years of rule by both (DMK and AIADMK) parties alternatively. Take, for example, Delhi. They went through only 25 years of Congress and BJP and they were fed up and they wanted a new person. In West Bengal, after 34 years of Communist rule, the people wanted something new. In Tamil Nadu, people are really fed up with both these parties alternating and not getting anything new. They are yearning for a change. The Tamil electorate is about 5 crore and 79 lakh population. 60% of them are neutral voters and in this two-third are young voters. In numbers, we have two-and-a-half crore young neutral voters in Tamil Nadu. 90% of them don’t want DMK and AIADMK. Do you think they’ll vote for Vijayakanth who can’t utter one sentence coherently? They are choosing me and this is what they are telling me.
For 50 years, only people from movies are ruling Tamil Nadu. People want someone from outside the movie industry, a professional, a doctor. I proved my credentials when I was a minister for five years. People know me as a doer and I’m the only politician of this generation. All the other politicians are from the previous generation. In that context, people in Tamil Nadu want an educated person and I fit into that perfectly.
This time, the PMK has decided to go it alone.
We don’t need an alliance. We didn’t call for an alliance though many parties evinced interest. We decided to go alone and that’s how we could roll-out our priorities and policies. On the contrary, DMK has been begging for an alliance but nobody went with them except Congress which is a non-entity here. AIADMK has alliances with miniscule parties as no one wanted to join them. The other fronts, like Vijayakanth's, are fronts which are formed by parties which have been rejected by other parties. We are the only ones who are confident as we have the support of the majority of Tamil Nadu.
The women in Tamil Nadu feel Anbumani can bring in prohibition because we have protesting it for a long time. The youngsters in the state want Anbumani because they want a young, educated person who has been talking sense. The farmers believe that Anubumani can bring in a farming revolution because I have been talking about a separate budget for farming, modernisation and organic farming. Even the weavers, fishermen and the others are supporting me in a big way.
Since there are so many parties, it’s going to be tough fight this time, isn’t it?
That is our advantage. This is why we are so confident because there are four fronts and five fronts, we are at an advantage. Earlier, you needed 65,000 to become an MLA. Now you get 45,000 votes and you can become an MLA.
What are the first few things you would implement if you take charge?
On the first day, the first thing that I will sign will be total prohibition. I am going to bring in Lokayukta, Right to Public Services Act and E-Governance in the next six months. The third thing I’ll do is provide free health and free education. Fourthly, I will set up a separate budget for agriculture.
