Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam President MK Stalin on Saturday told his party cadre that India is not about Hindi-speaking states alone, and that it was time that the government embraces people of all identities, PTI reported. In a letter to his party workers, he said: “The days that Hindi-speaking states alone was India have vanished.”

“No single state can be ignored whichever party took over reins of power at the Centre,” he wrote. Stalin said the future is all about “constructive politics centred around the states”. The DMK will protect the interests of the people in Parliament and the Tamil Nadu Assembly, he said.

Stalin’s party won 23 seats in the Lok Sabha, results for which were declared on May 23. The alliance comprising the DMK, Congress, Left parties and the Indian Union Muslim League won 37 out of 38 seats in Tamil Nadu for which results were declared.

The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, which was in an alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party, won only a single seat, while the saffron party failed to open its account. However, in bye-polls to 22 Assembly constituencies, the AIADMK managed to win nine seats, while the DMK won 12. The AIADMK now has 123 MLAs in the Tamil Nadu Assembly, with the halfway mark being 117.

Stalin’s remarks about the importance of states came on the same day that Narendra Modi was appointed prime minister for a second term and delivered a speech in the Central Hall of Parliament. In his speech, Modi said the NDA’s new mantra is “Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, and Sabka Vishwas”. “We must not leave anyone behind, there should be no discrimination,” he said.

The BJP and its allies won a landslide victory in the Lok Sabha elections. The BJP itself won 303 seats, 21 more than its number in 2014, while the NDA finished with 353 seats.