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'If Mughals Alien, Then Aryans Also, Only Dravidians Can Claim India': DMK MP A Raja On PM Modi's 1,000-Year-Slavery Remark
Nishtha Anushree
Jul 02, 2024, 10:58 AM | Updated 10:58 AM IST
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![Senior DMK Leader A Raja (Facebook)](https://swarajya.gumlet.io/swarajya/2022-09/1ffd17d0-caac-4699-bf7f-59c1b7bd98e2/Collage_Maker_14_Sep_2022_04_08_PM.jpg?w=640&q=75&auto=format,compress&format=webp)
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) MP A Raja on Monday (1 July) demanded a nationwide caste-based census to provide "equal opportunities to everybody."
While speaking on the Motion of Thanks on the President's Address in Lok Sabha, Raja objected to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's remarks regarding 1,000 years of slavery.
He said that all our leaders talked about 200 years of slavery under British rule, but by calling it 1,000 years, President Droupadi Murmu tried to include Mughals in it which is not correct.
"Mughals came here, they settled and ruled here. English people ruled from England. Hence, British rule is upheld as slavery... If you are calling Mughals alien, then Aryans are also alien," he said.
"That is why Ambedkar said, if at all a race is entitled to claim this land, is only Dravidian and Adivasis," Raja said in accordance with his party's Dravidian ideology.
Raja is an accused in 2G scam but he defended himself in parliament by blaming then Comptroller Auditor General (CAG) of India Vinod Rai for artificially creating the scam.
He also objected to PM Modi's mangalsutra remarks and mocked him for bowing down to the Constitution by alleging that this gesture is ironic because he wants to change the Constitution.
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Nishtha Anushree is Senior Sub-editor at Swarajya. She tweets at @nishthaanushree.
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