Only Modi can ensure national security: Palaniswami

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K. Palaniswami on Wednesday reiterated national security is important for a democratic country like India and only Prime Minister Narendra Modi has the capability to ensure this.

In his address at a poll meeting in Salem, he said: "India is a big democratic country. Security is important for all in this country. It is only Prime Minister Narendra Modi who has the capability to lead the country in a secure manner while implementing various schemes for the people."

He hoped the BJP alliance wins the Lok Sabha elections in a big way to provide a stable government at the centre.

Palaniswami said that his state government will take steps to link Godavari-Cauvery rivers to solve the water problem of the state, once the BJP-led government come back to power at the centre.

With Palaniswami recently stressing on national security in his speeches, experts are divided on whether it would help him in the elections.

"The Pulwama attack on CRPF troopers, the preventive attack by India on terror camps inside Pakistan and the downing of Pakistan F-16 fighter plane, capture of Indian pilot Abhinandan Varthaman, his answers to his captors have captured the imagination of the middle class voters," writer and political commentator Maalan Narayanan told IANS.

"Further, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman being a woman and from Tamil Nadu is an added factor that is gaining traction in favour of BJP government," Narayanan said, but added, that "at the grass root level I don't think the issue would gain electoral importance".

On the other hand, political strategist Jhon Arokiasamy told IANS: "Nationalism as a narrative does and will work."

He said the narrative on nationalistic pride and feelings in terms of safety, security, and well-being of people will have longevity till the elections.

Arokiasamy, however, said in states like Tamil Nadu, where sub-nationalism is dominant in the form of Tamil pride, then it has to be contextualised for the narrative to succeed.

--IANS

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