Spending on health, education can't be considered freebies, says Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin

Stalin said that some people have now emerged with the advice that there should be no freebies. He also refrained from talking more on this issue, saying this will become politics Chennai: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Saturday said the expenditure incurred by the government on education and health cannot be construed as freebies and stated such measures were being extended to the poor and those living in the fringes. He also took an apparent swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for opposing freebies, but said he did not want to talk much about it as “it will become politics.” In fact, the Supreme Court has said freebies and welfare scheme were different, Stalin said in an event at the Arumigu Kapaleeswarar Arts and Science College at his Kolathur constituency here. Listing out the initiatives in Health and Education, including those delivered on doorsteps, Stalin said “these are not freebies social welfare schemes.” “These are implemented to benefit the poor and those in the fringes,’ he said. Further, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had hit out at Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for giving a “perverse twist” to the debate on freebies, saying the AAP leader putting education and health in that category is an attempt to create fear in the minds of the poor.