After creating a furore in the Parliament by calling Hindi-speaking states ‘gaumutra states’, DMK MP DNV Senthilkumar expressed regret and withdrew his statements during the ongoing Winter Session on Wednesday, December 6.
“The statement made by me yesterday inadvertently, if it had hurt the sentiments of the Members and sections of the people, I would like to withdraw it. I request the words to be expunged…I regret it,” he said in the Lok Sabha.
On Tuesday, the DMK MP created an uproar by terming Hindi-speaking states as ‘gaumutra states’ and said that the Bharatiya Janata Party can win elections there and not in southern India.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders hit back at Senthilkumar and questioned Rahul Gandhi’s silence over the matter. The Congress party, though condemning Senthilkumar’s statements, made it clear that an alliance member’s statement cannot be attached to the Congress.
“You (BJP) cannot come to South India. You see all the results of what happens in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka … we are very strong over there,” Senthilkumar had said.
The comments come in the backdrop of some referring to the recent assembly election results as a ‘North-South divide’ after the BJP trounced the Congress in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, and the Congress won in Telangana.
