A Raja slams PM for not visiting Nilgiris after General Bipin Rawat's death

In a swipe at Narendra Modi, DMK MP A Raja said the Prime Minister was coming to Nilgiris to seek votes for the BJP but did not visit the constituency even once after the death of General Bipin Rawat, the country's first Chief of Defence Staff, in a helicopter crash.

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A Raja, who has been re-nominated from the Nilgiris by the DMK, said Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin had rushed to the crash site and also paid his respects to General Rawat, his wife and 11 other defence personnel who were on board.

"(The) head of the forces died here. Did the Prime Minister or Defence Minister come here? Let me challenge you (PM Modi). What important work did you have in Delhi when Bipin Rawat died here? Were you in a foreign land? No. But it was CM MK Stalin who rushed here and paid his respects. Don't claim we don't have patriotism. We don't speak Hindi. Modi doesn’t have to teach us patriotism," A Raja said on Wednesday while campaigning in Nilgiris.

The then Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat, his wife Madhulika Rawat, and 11 other people were on board an Air Force's Mi-17V5 chopper when it crashed near Tamil Nadu's Coonoor on December 8, 2021.

In his speech, Raja further said the BJP's patriotism was for a "particular religion" and "language". He said that Tamil Nadu would not support such a kind of patriotism.

Tamil Nadu will go to polls in a single phase on April 19, 2024, for 39 Lok Sabha seats.