Union Minister Piyush Goyal on Wednesday asked the opposition parties not to divide the country on the basis of north and south India and asked if the INDIA bloc constituents support the remarks against Hindi heartland states by a DMK MP.
Replying to a question related to his Consumer Affairs Ministry during the Question Hour in the Lok Sabha, Goyal said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has come up with the idea of “One Nation, One Ration Card” so that the whole country could be united through a single transparent system of getting subsidised foodgrain anywhere.
“The PM always works to unite the people. But the opposition is trying to divide the country. Some of them even talked about North and South India. Please stop dividing the country,” he said amidst vocal objections by some opposition members.
Unwilling to relent to the objections, the minister hit back, saying, “Do you support the statement of a member made in this House yesterday. Do INDI alliance members support the statement of that member”.
Goyal, however, did not take the name of DMK member D N V Senthil Kumar who had made the controversial remarks.
While participating in the debate on the J&K Reorganisation (Amendment ) Bill in Lok Sabha on Tuesday, Kumar said the BJP can win elections only in the Hindi heartland states and not in South India.
While the DMK member’s comments against Hindi heartland states were expunged by the Lok Sabha Speaker later, they sparked controversy with several members across party lines condemning the MP and a video of his speech going viral on social media. Facing flak, he later apologised.