“You pulled her saree, you demeaned her”: Sitharaman targets DMK over Jayalalitha incident in 1989

New Delhi [India], August 10 : Participating in the debate on the no-confidence motion, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday said that women are suffering everywhere and reminded the house of an incident in 1989 when Jayalalithaa's saree was pulled in the Tamil Nadu Assembly and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam members heckled her.
She also slammed the Opposition parties for raising voice against the ‘Sengol’ which was placed inside the Parliament by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and called it an “insult” to Tamils.  
Sitharaman was giving a reply to the no-confidence motion brought by the Opposition in the lower house of the Parliament.
Addressing the Lok Sabha, Sitharaman said, “I agree that women suffering anywhere - Manipur, Delhi, Rajasthan - will have to be taken seriously. No politics played. But I want to remind this entire House of one incident which happened on 25th March 1989 in Tamil Nadu Assembly. Then she hadn't become CM Jayalalithaa's saree was pulled in Tamil Nadu in the Assembly. She was the LoP. The DMK members who were seated there, heckled her and laughed at her...Has DMK forgotten Jayalalithaa?”
“You pulled her saree, you demeaned her. That day Jayalalithaa took an oath that she will never come to the House unless she becomes the CM. Two years later, she returned as the CM of Tamil Nadu...,” she added.
The Finance Minister further said that ‘Sengol’ was ignored for decades and was lost in history, but due to PM Modi, a Tamil word was quoted in the United Nations for the first time.
“...When PM Modi restored it (Sengol) to its rightful place in Lok Sabha, that became an issue, that is an insult of the Tamils. The Sengol was ignored for decades. The Sengol was lost in history and kept in some museums. The Kashi Tamil Sangamam showed how Tamil Nadu and Kashi have very deep connections. The first time you heard Tamil being quoted in the United Nations. In 'Mann ki Baat', PM has used Tamil so many times,” she said.
Citing the governance of the Modi government, she apparently said that during the UPA rule, people used to wait for services, but under the NDA government, people are receiving the benefits of the schemes.
“Words like 'banega, milega' are not in use anymore. What are the people using these days? 'Ban gaye, mil gaye, aa gaye'. During UPA, people said 'Bijli aayegi', now people say 'Bijli aa gayi'. They said 'gas connection milega', now 'gas connection mil gaya'...They said airport 'banega', now airport 'ban gaya'..." Sitharaman added.
Meanwhile, the no-confidence motion moved by the Opposition against the NDA government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi was defeated in the Lok Sabha on Thursday.
The NDA defeated the no-confidence motion comfortably with a voice vote in the Lok Sabha.
The opposition moved a no-confidence motion against the Modi government on July 26 which was taken up by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla.
The three days of the motion witnessed a fierce battle between the ruling and the Opposition coalitions over the Manipur violence and other raging issues.
This is the second time Prime Minister Narendra Modi faced a no-confidence motion.
The first such motion against the Modi government was introduced in 2018 over granting a special category status to Andhra Pradesh which was later defeated.
The NDA has a commendable majority with a number of 331 MPs out of which the BJP has 303 MPs while the combined strength of the Opposition bloc I.N.D.I.A is 144. The numbers of unaligned parties’ MPs are 70 in the Lower House.