The Hindu : Affidavit was brainchild of someone close to CM: Vaiko

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Apr 08, 2003

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Affidavit was brainchild of someone close to CM: Vaiko

By Our Staff Reporter

KANCHIPURAM April 7. The MDMK leader and MP, Vaiko, has said that the "controversial affidavit filed in the Supreme Court against me is said to be the brainchild of persons whom the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, Jayalalithaa, is relying upon. I do not want to name anybody in haste. One thing I want to state is that the whole episode has been conducted without the knowledge of the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister. Unavoidably, I have to say that the Central Government has become vulnerable and answerable to the criticism of callous, reckless and indifferent handling of the whole matter."

In a statement released to the media after his appearance in the Special Court in Poonamalee trying POTA cases, Mr. Vaiko said Ms. Jayalalithaa informed the State Assembly that the Additional Solicitor-General would represent the Tamil Nadu Government as a respondent to my writ petition in the Supreme Court. "This very same Additional Solicitor-General, Mr. Altaf, was purposely brought by the Tamil Nadu Government to oppose the bail petition moved by P. Nedumaran in the High Court, Chennai."

The MDMK leader, who has been in jail for over nine months now under POTA, said that "when I came to know about the Central Government's affidavit, I was determined to continue my crusade in the court without making any request to reconsider the affidavit. In the meanwhile, the DMK president, Dr. Kalaignar has taken up the issue with the Centre through the Union Minister, T.R. Baalu. As a result, the Centre has decided to present a modified affidavit in the Supreme Court". (He also made it clear that no sooner had the Chief Minister announced her decision to arrest him under POTA when he was in the U.S., than the Union Law Minister, Arun Jaitley, had telephoned and told him that his speech in Thirumangalam would not come under the provisions of POTA. The NDA convenor, George Fernandes, and the BJP president, Venkaiah Naidu, have also expressed the same views all these nine months).

After all this, a Director of the Home Ministry had filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court that "my speech amounted to terrorism. The most ridiculous paradox is that I merely quoted in the Thirumangalam meeting what I expressed on the floor of the Lok Sabha during the Gujarat debate".

He said, "My words and deeds were never intended to nurture terrorism in India. I fight for justice before the courts and I am confident that justice will ultimately prevail."

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