Lok Sabha Elections 2024 | Outlook speaks with Singai G. Ramachandran - video Dailymotion

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Outlook speaks with Singai G. Ramachandran who is the candidate for the AIADMK party. Tamil Nadu goes to the poll in the first phase of the election on 19 April.  #LokSabha2024 #GeneralElections2024 #TamilNadu #ReportersGuarentee #ElectionsWithOutlook  Follow us: Website: https://www.outlookindia.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Outlookindia Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/outlookindia/ X: https://twitter.com/Outlookindia Whatsapp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaNrF3v0AgWLA6OnJH0R Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@OutlookMagazine Dailymotion: https://www.dailymotion.com/outlookindia

Transcript

00:00 I get damn irritated when I see all these BJP people, they talk all the time just about the religion.

00:06 I am saying people don't have jobs, people don't have food.

00:09 People are struggling with so many things and you just use this tool just because you want to get votes.

00:15 When I was first introduced to your candidacy, it came to me in a very specific moment because

00:27 Annamalai had launched all kinds of this dire drive against you saying you came under this quota and all of that.

00:32 I came under the?

00:34 No, he said that you came under MLA quota, he said this kind of thing, you are a child of privilege etc.

00:41 But then I watched your video and I saw something that was very special for me because

00:45 you were not attacking people, you were very calm, very moist and you were just giving fact after fact.

00:52 And that was my first introduction to you as a politician.

00:55 What I want to say is what do you think of this culture that Annamalai is bringing?

00:59 They are just basically throwing, assassinating everybody's character, throwing shit on people.

01:02 What do you think of that culture?

01:04 See, he is very anxious.

01:06 I am very calm because I am very confident.

01:09 I am the son of the soil, I have done so much work so far here.

01:12 I really know what is the ground reality and I know I will win.

01:17 So, I am very calm and confident.

01:18 But on the contrary, he was not even interested in contesting which he himself told in the press meet after he got the ticket.

01:25 He said I don't want to go there but anyway they are asking me to contest, that's why I am contesting.

01:29 That's how even he started the press meet.

01:32 And then because of the fear of failure, he is attacking everybody.

01:36 Not only me, even the press, every person possible he is attacking.

01:40 And see, only if you have less confidence or if you feel inferior, you will get hurt and react to all such things.

01:48 When there are facts and figures and I know who I am.

01:51 I don't want anybody to acknowledge me and say, hey this is who you are.

01:55 So, that's how I responded with composure.

01:58 The second thing is you were also in charge of the IT wing at some point, right?

02:03 With the ADLT.

02:04 What do you think of this BJP making the IT wing its end?

02:07 Like as if the IT wing is the electorate because you see that every day it's saturated.

02:11 It's name calling.

02:14 What do you think has happened to the actual politics of making the people versus the IT wing type of politics?

02:19 See, yesterday I would have met 15,000 people in 45 points.

02:23 Day before yesterday in Sulud constituency, MLA constituency, in 70 points I would have met 20,000 people altogether.

02:32 I don't think BJP will even know that there are 70 points in this constituency.

02:36 They believe in social media because they don't have people on the ground.

02:41 Even the booth agents, they are using volunteers.

02:43 They're using paid people.

02:45 So, there is no emotion there.

02:47 But when I go there to each of these points, people are literally celebrating that we are going to win.

02:52 This is ADMK.

02:53 This is the party.

02:53 We are more than 50 years old.

02:55 So, if I may advise to BJP what Adnan Malik should have focused for the past three years

03:01 instead of just branding himself in social media is to form proper booth structure with which he can work.

03:06 He did not do that because he never expected that he will get an opportunity to contest.

03:11 He thought someone will be the scapegoat.

03:14 So, why should I bother?

03:15 I will get all the fame.

03:16 And then I can probably get a nominated post or something.

03:20 Suddenly, when he was asked to contest, now it's like whatever bad thing he did,

03:24 he's facing the same thing right now, the heat.

03:26 There is no point in getting just like and retweets in Twitter or Instagram.

03:31 I will show you.

03:32 Please come with me.

03:33 Yesterday and day before, you guys should have joined me.

03:36 All those people, none of them are on Instagram.

03:38 I'm not saying social media doesn't have an impact.

03:40 It does have an impact.

03:41 But you cannot base your entire election based on just social media.

03:47 Yesterday, for instance, we went to the Rahul Gandhi rally.

03:51 And one of the things that he said really stood out because he says that this election

03:56 is an election of two different ideologies.

03:57 The Hindu-Troya ideology that you know wants to separate the people.

04:01 And the Ramayanan ideology or the people's ideology.

04:03 We are all united.

04:04 How does the ADMK look at this specific election?

04:07 At least, where you're concerned.

04:08 You're standing in Coimbatore.

04:09 Yeah, yeah.

04:10 So, we are a secular party.

04:13 And we want to make sure everybody gets everything.

04:16 In Tamil, we say, "Ellarum ellamu pera vennam, illamai illadhanale vennam."

04:19 Rahul Gandhi telling this is okay.

04:23 But I feel bad for Congress.

04:25 So, he is like a part-time politician.

04:28 He should do much better.

04:29 He's not giving a good fight.

04:31 He should give a good fight.

04:32 And I think based on different regional parties here and there, now at least they are getting

04:38 some traction.

04:39 They are going to give a good fight across the nation.

04:42 We don't know who is going to win.

04:43 I'm not going to say 100% Modi is going to win.

04:46 Definitely not.

04:47 We will know only when the result comes.

04:48 It is not the way it is projected in the media.

04:52 Everybody says, "Oh, Modi will get 400 seats.

04:53 Mark my words, he will not get it."

04:55 I want to ask one question.

04:56 Two questions I have.

04:58 One is going to your secularism situation.

05:00 How do you articulate secularism?

05:03 Like the BJP says, "Sarvdharam sambhava," which means all religion equals.

05:07 No, no.

05:07 They just say it.

05:08 But they don't mean it.

05:09 What we do is like ADMK.

05:11 See, you need to look at the actions rather than what a politician speaks.

05:16 I can today talk anything, right?

05:18 But what am I doing will tell what I actually mean.

05:22 So, the schemes for Christians, Muslims, Hindus, you can look at it from ADMK's government

05:30 side.

05:30 It was for everybody.

05:31 And also, we wish for all religion festivals.

05:35 We participate in all religious festivals.

05:37 Unlike DMK, which is very particular and they wish only for certain festivals, they

05:43 don't respect all the religion.

05:44 And BJP, you know, they don't consider apart from Hindu religion, any other religion as

05:50 a religion.

05:51 That's how they project themselves.

05:53 But according to us, AIDMK, we respect all the religions.

05:56 It's your belief.

05:57 We respect that.

05:57 It's our belief.

05:58 Respect us.

05:59 It should be inclusive, right?

06:00 So, the question basically is also that do you think the state should not interfere in

06:05 any religion thing, which is what the constitution kind of stands for?

06:09 I get damn irritated when I see all these BJP people, they talk all the time just about

06:15 the religion.

06:16 I'm saying people don't have jobs.

06:18 People don't have food.

06:19 People are struggling with so many things.

06:22 And you just use this tool just because you want to get votes.

06:25 Use that hijab issue.

06:26 And then people are breaking their heads.

06:28 You are going in an AC car because you just want to focus on the vote bank.

06:31 I don't think they can give any progress.

06:34 And I think their only agenda is to split, divide, and rule, which I'm 200% against.

06:41 I will make sure Coimbatore stays intact because I don't want even a single brick to move out

06:48 of Coimbatore.

06:48 And that is one more reason we are campaigning aggressively to make sure that such things

06:54 doesn't intrude the ecosystem of Coimbatore, where there is peace and harmony.

06:57 Okay.

06:58 And other thing is Coimbatore is very interesting in this election.

07:01 In the sense that Tamil Nadu, the division politics and all of that has been there.

07:05 And we also know from North India that maybe they will not be that much enrolled by the

07:10 BJP.

07:11 Maybe like let's say even if you're very hopeful, those seats will be won.

07:14 But they will not be won.

07:15 They won't be won.

07:16 They will be beaten.

07:18 But the other thing is Coimbatore also is a very interesting constituency because of

07:22 the history of, you know, there was a bomb blast which Modi has used in terms of doing

07:27 his roadshow over there.

07:28 That's what I'm saying.

07:29 I'm saying.

07:30 How do you resist that kind of polarization?

07:33 I'll put one word in Tamil.

07:35 There is a cheque here which was taken by Vavusi.

07:38 Vavusi Thidumarana, right?

07:40 So, there are much better big things where you can talk about Coimbatore.

07:45 Exactly.

07:45 It's famous for a lot of things.

07:47 But you want to go and particularly take that point as a Prime Minister of a country,

07:52 trigger that.

07:53 What kind of signal are you trying to give?

07:55 Exactly.

07:56 You are giving the same signal.

07:57 I want to divide and rule.

07:58 I want to divide and rule.

07:59 Do you think people outside would probably want to invest in Coimbatore if you keep giving

08:02 such signals?

08:03 Exactly.

08:03 We want to forget that incident.

08:05 It happened.

08:06 Okay, fine.

08:07 Now we want to move on.

08:08 We want to see growth.

08:09 But he is still interested in hanging or holding that particular incident because they won't

08:14 hold.

08:14 At the end of the day, I'm asking Modi directly.

08:16 Last 10 years, what have you done for Coimbatore?

08:19 I'm asking Anna Malai directly.

08:20 Last three years, what have you done?

08:21 Because of GST, because of a lot of the thread price issues, the hand loom, the power loom,

08:28 the pump industry, the foundry industry, the motor industry, the grinder industry, all

08:32 of them are struggling.

08:33 50% of production has reduced in power loom.

08:37 And the dyeing industry and banyan industry is almost dying.

08:40 What did Anna Malai do for the last three years except walking on the road saying 'Namman,

08:45 Nammakkal'?

08:46 For 'Namman', what did you do?

08:47 For 'Nammakkal', what did you do?

08:49 You were just doing a drama.

08:50 You were just branding yourself.

08:51 I have a question on this.

08:52 Coimbatore was earlier a CPMC, but also it comes from a huge trade union background.

08:57 There's a huge sympathy for the left.

08:58 And see, when we talk about right-wing, we also have a culture in India.

09:03 We make it religious right.

09:05 We're not talking about the actual right-wing, which is the country of the capitalist, the

09:09 rule by the capitalist, which is what Modi is doing.

09:11 How much are you addressing these issues?

09:13 The issues of workers versus the power being saturated in the hands of pro-decapitalists?

09:18 See, all the schemes that ADMK has given so far, you take it giving gold for the Mangal

09:26 Sutra, or money for people to get married, or a laptop for students, a cycle for students,

09:32 or OAP, old age pensions, I can give hundreds of things.

09:36 All of it is not for the rich.

09:38 Not for the rich, right?

09:40 It is for the poor state of people, right?

09:42 We don't talk communism, but we take a middle stance.

09:46 We make sure people are taken care of.

09:49 At the same time, we understand growth requires industries also to come up.

09:53 Only then these people will get jobs.

09:55 You cannot keep giving them just forever.

09:58 You need to teach them how to catch the fish.

09:59 You cannot be just giving them the fish.

10:01 So, that was ADMK's stand, Amma's stand, Adapariya's stand, our stand.

10:05 It's no more a communist belt, I would say.

10:08 My father in '91, he contested against Sengal Yappan.

10:12 He used to be a big union leader of communists.

10:16 So, my father won even in '91.

10:17 And after that, if you look at it, all the elections, we were winning in this 10 constituency

10:22 belt in Coimbatore.

10:24 And once communists, they were in alliance with us only during that time they won.

10:28 And you went to the IIM Ahmedabad and Annamalai also similar.

10:33 So, you left all of that, you know.

10:36 That's more like into market, making money, all of that.

10:40 How does that experience kind of translate into you being a politician?

10:43 I did not actually go to IIM Ahmedabad.

10:45 It's not like my, I have an uncle in Singapore or one more uncle in the US where they gave

10:50 me all the gyan and everything.

10:52 In my family, my father was a mill worker.

10:54 My mom did not complete her education.

10:56 And I am the first probably the graduate in my family.

11:00 And I completed a PhD tech and I was working.

11:03 And then I want to reach Amma and I want to get a bigger responsibility.

11:06 That boss, he was working in IIM Kohlikot.

11:08 He gave me the exposure.

11:09 He gave me the material to read.

11:11 So, my only way to get a bigger responsibility, I thought he said on a lighter note, you reach,

11:16 get a job, go to IIM, opt out of job and just give an interview saying you want to work

11:20 for Amma.

11:21 I strongly believed in that.

11:22 And then it took three years.

11:23 First year, I didn't crack.

11:24 Second year, I didn't crack.

11:25 Third year, I cracked.

11:25 God's grace, I got into IIM Ahmedabad.

11:27 I got a welcome letter from the student general secretary there.

11:29 I thought, okay, if I am going to be in real politics, I should be this also.

11:32 I learned Hindi.

11:33 I contested in election.

11:34 And then I opted out.

11:36 Nothing happened for a couple of months.

11:37 I was watching a movie in a theater.

11:38 Suddenly, my mom calls me and says, you've been appointed as IT secretary by Amma.

11:42 I said, it should be someone else.

11:43 My mom said, no, it is you.

11:44 And then I came out.

11:45 So, that's how.

11:46 So, IIM degree was a tool for me to get there.

11:49 Yeah, it is not that.

11:51 Yeah, because I feel this is a bigger opportunity than IIM degree.

11:54 I am not demeaning IIM degree.

11:55 For FMCG companies, if you need an IIM Ahmedabad graduate, for a constancy with six MLA constancies

12:01 and the big MP constancies, it's a complex algorithm.

12:03 IIM Ahmedabad is an under education is what I would say.

12:07 So, because of that only, I was able to reach her and I am here today.

12:11 Okay.

12:12 And the other thing which we, because it's a national kind of an election, you know,

12:16 there is this ideological factor.

12:18 If you look at many regional parties, they have kind of diluted the ideological base

12:22 itself, right?

12:23 Like I'm from Bihar and I don't know what JDU stands for.

12:26 We just did an issue actually looking at DMK, IDMK, all the parties, you know, and at which

12:30 point they have kind of stayed straight from their core ideological whatever.

12:34 Now, it's looking like as if the Hindutva ideology and the Dravidian thing and it's

12:40 a north and south thing also, you know, where the resistance comes from here.

12:44 So, how do you look at that and especially from Coimbatore which comes.

12:48 People of Tamil Nadu, they don't care about Modi.

12:53 They don't care about BJP because they know they've not been helpful for us.

12:59 We tried being in our lanes.

13:01 They did not.

13:01 They were not helpful.

13:02 That's why we came out during the flood situation.

13:05 They did not help us and they get a lot of GST money from us, but they don't allocate

13:09 the same proportion to us.

13:11 And so, look at even handloom, powerloom, Gujarat is coming up.

13:14 Why are we not able to come up?

13:17 The state government should also give allowance like Honorable Amma, she gave an allowance

13:21 long back when powerloom was going down in the 91, 90s, 60s.

13:26 He helped us, helped them with the power tariff and everything.

13:29 So, such things should be handled.

13:30 So, people are not much bothered about what is happening that they are more bothered about

13:36 here and also that makes sense, right?

13:38 Because people from UP, they come here and work.

13:40 Yeah.

13:41 They were in central government.

13:42 Modi's government was there.

13:44 State was ruled by BJP.

13:45 Then ideally, they should give the best possible growth.

13:48 Then why are people from UP coming here and working?

13:50 And why if you look at the data points, Tamil Nadu is way ahead of them.

13:55 What are they talking?

13:55 What is Annamalai talking about growth?

13:57 This is a joke that they are talking.

13:59 I think it's time for your question.

14:01 I have one last question.

14:02 Yeah.

14:03 This is about the optics of the fight and which my editor also pointed out to me.

14:06 He said you and Annamalai happen to be really young.

14:09 Yeah.

14:09 We are similar.

14:11 Not similar in ideology.

14:12 No, no, no.

14:12 No ideology or anything.

14:14 You are very, very graceful and well-mannered.

14:16 But in terms of how do you look at the optics of two young people battling it out?

14:20 And one party throwing the mic behind their candidate.

14:23 Yeah.

14:23 Both the parties.

14:24 See, to be frank, I think he is 38 years old.

14:28 I am 36 years old.

14:29 And my party is not according to them.

14:32 Modi is coming here.

14:34 Everybody is coming here.

14:35 Nirmala Sitharaman.

14:36 Because they have the fear that they will lose.

14:38 So, they are giving so much attention.

14:40 For my party, this is one or the other constituency.

14:43 For me, I am focusing on the constituency.

14:45 I don't care who is the opposition.

14:46 I focus on the process.

14:47 And there will be definitely good outcome.

14:49 Because I have been soaked in this ecosystem of electioneering from the age of 18.

14:53 Unlike Annamalai where he jumped from the top.

14:57 Suddenly he became something and he is doing whatever he is doing right now.

15:00 So, I think young and education doesn't mean that everybody will do good.

15:04 Yeah.

15:05 Education, just studying at IIM Ahmedabad or even my degree or IPS or IAS.

15:12 I have seen much better people with much better education or without education doing great

15:18 things in a much more calm, composed manner.

15:20 Not flaunting too much about themselves.

15:22 Just doing the work.

15:24 Maintaining that composure.

15:25 I always feel IIM Ahmedabad degree is just a piece of paper.

15:28 If I am not being educated and doing positive things to people, it doesn't matter, right?

15:33 How does it translate?

15:34 Harvard, Stanford, IIM, all these things doesn't matter.

15:36 Kamarajan was not educated.

15:38 MGR was not educated.

15:39 People did great things.

15:40 It is possible.

15:42 Education is just a tool.

15:43 It will kind of help you.

15:44 That's all.

15:45 Democracy, you don't have to be educated.

15:45 You cannot keep telling I am an IPS, I am educated.

15:48 I know everything.

15:48 I know policy.

15:49 You cannot question the journalist.

15:51 Do you know this policy?

15:52 Go read and come.

15:53 It is not the job of the journalist to read an economic policy.

15:55 It's not possible for every journalist to get that level of education in economics.

16:00 So, there are different kind of journalists.

16:02 You need to be inclusive and tell them, teach them, talk to them.

16:04 [inaudible]

16:12 One other question and you don't have to answer it now.

16:14 We will get back to it later.

16:16 [inaudible]

16:22 And they said, see, every ideology runs its course, right?

16:24 In a way that they were saying...

16:27 And Dravidian ideology and politics, which AIDMT and DMT both kind of like you take the

16:32 middle stance, but you know, they have become the victims of their own prosperity and there's

16:36 a new kind of politics that people are looking for.

16:39 I think about it and we'll come back to this later.

16:42 What changes?

16:43 See, you cannot give the...

16:44 Anna Malai is the same old wine in a new bottle.

16:48 There's nothing new about him.

16:50 He's talking, driving the same ideology, same thing, just in a different way.

16:56 That's all.

16:56 Thank you.

16:57 - Thank you.

16:58 [MUSIC PLAYING]

Lok Sabha Elections 2024 | Outlook speaks with Singai G. Ramachandran

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