On the second day of his padayatra, En Mann En Makkal, which was flagged off from Rameswaram by Union Home Minister Amit Shah yesterday (28 July), BJP state president K Annamalai interacted with people in the Ramanathapuram Lok Sabha constituency.

He spoke about the work done by the central government in Tamil Nadu and the efforts put in by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to promote Tamil culture and heritage.

Earlier in the day, Shah had darshan at the Ramanathaswamy temple and visited the home of a party worker in Rameswaram.

He also released a book on former President APJ Abdul Kalam and visited the Vivekananda Memorial.

Responding to Chief Minister MK Stalin’s remarks saying that the padayatra was being undertaken by the BJP to absolve itself of the ‘sins of Gujarat and Manipur’, Annamalai stated that it was the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) that had committed many sins and Rameswaram would be a right place for the first family to absolve itself of its sins.

Annamalai also interacted with fishermen and women’s self-help groups. He spoke about the various welfare schemes brought by the central government and said that the issues faced by fishermen like arrests, seizure of boats by the Sri Lankan navy and long delays in their return to India have reduced during the tenure of the Modi government.

BJP leaders Pon Radhakrishnan, M Chakravarthy, Nainar Nagendran and MC Munusamy, the state president of the BJP’s Fishermen’s Union were present with him.

He said that he was pleased with the reception given to the padayatra by the people of Ramanathapuram constituency.

Regarding rumours of Prime Minister Narendra Modi contesting from Ramanathapuram in 2024, he said that many people he met had expressed their wish for the PM to contest from here and that this would be conveyed to the party leadership.

On the third day, he is scheduled to interact with people in Muthukulathur, Paramakudi and Thiruvadanai.

After that, the padayatra would enter Sivaganga district, where it would make stops in Manamadurai, Sivaganga and Karaikudi.