Leader of the Opposition and AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami on Thursday alleged that a false propaganda was being spread among minorities that the AIADMK had always acted against their welfare.

Addressing a public gathering in Vellore as part of his State-wide tour, Mr. Palaniswami said minorities were being made to believe that they would be unsafe under an AIADMK regime. “This is not true. During its 31 years of [cumulative] rule since the days of former Chief Minister M.G. Ramachandran, the AIADMK has always protected the interest of minorities and marginalised sections of society. They [minorities] should not believe the false propaganda,” he said.

Mr. Palaniswami listed several welfare measures taken by him and former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa for the welfare of minorities. Under the Jayalalithaa regime, an initiative to distribute free rice to mosques for making nombu kanji (gruel) during the month of Ramzan was launched in 2011, with an allocation of 5,400 tonnes, he said. “When the Centre stopped extending the grant of ₹6 crore for Haj pilgrims from Tamil Nadu in 2018, the then AIADMK government led by me provided the grant, and even increased it to ₹12 crore in 2021. A permanent accommodation for Haj pilgrims was built in Chennai at a cost of ₹15 crore during AIADMK rule,” he said.

In 2015, the then Chief Minister, Jayalalithaa, secured around 2.4 lakh crore in foreign direct investment, and signed 98 agreements with multinational companies (MNCs) to provide job opportunities for unemployed educated youth in the State, he said.

“Following in her footsteps, a global investors’ meet was organised in Chennai when I was Chief Minister in 2019. I signed 304 agreements with MNCs to get them to set up units and provide jobs in the State. The fruits of our labour are being reaped by the ruling DMK as the youth are getting jobs in these MNCs,” he added.