Now DMK offers Dravidatva

In his ongoing sparring with BJP, DMK president M. Karunanidhi today said Dravidatva, a term coined by him for Dravidian principles, will re...

In his ongoing sparring with BJP, DMK president M. Karunanidhi today said Dravidatva, a term coined by him for Dravidian principles, will reject Hindutva, if it preached ‘‘irrational behaviour or ideology’’.

Asked for his comments on PM A.B. Vajpayee’s remarks on Hindutva, Karunanidhi said the DMK would reject any principle which was against rational thinking and sought to segregate people in the name of caste.

The DMK would not accept any principle, which was against human beings and humaneness, he said adding: ‘‘I hope with my explanation today, the controversy over my recent remarks on Hindus would come to an end.’’

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Asked whether he would bring to the notice of BJP central leadership on certain remarks of BJP national secretary L. Ganesan against him and the DMK, he said there was no necessity for it as the remarks were only ‘‘misrepresentation of facts’’.

Ganesan’s statement that the BJP wanted to support a Hindu and did not want to spoil the winning chances of the AIADMK, which had put up a Hindu candidate during the Vaniyambadi bypolls, had only revealed that the state BJP had worked in tandem seven months ago with the aiadmk to defeat the DMK in that constituency, he said.

Asked whether the NDA constituents in Tamil Nadu, barring the BJP, would form a front to contest elections, Karunanidhi said: ‘‘This is not the time to talk about it. Next elections are only in 2004.’’

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