Squarely blaming Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami for the police firing that claimed the lives of 13 people during the anti-Sterlite protests in Thoothukudi last week, DMK working president M.K. Stalin on Wednesday said his party won’t extend any cooperation to a government that “massacres its own people.”
The DMK held a ‘model Assembly’ at the party headquarters here on Wednesday stating that the opposition parties were denied their rights in the Legislative Assembly. Its allies the Congress, the IUML and AIADMK MLA Karunas participated.
At the model Assembly, every speaker blamed the Chief Minister for saying that he came to know about the police firing only through TV news and for not visiting Thoothukudi till now. Mr. Stalin said that mass mobilisation was essential to send home a Chief Minister who refused to discuss police firing in the Assembly to safeguard legislative democracy.
“Mr. Palaniswami is responsible for turning the peaceful rally into a battlefield. He gave the permission to the police to shoot. He is responsible for the killing of 13. To hide all his failures, he is blaming the DMK,” he charged.
‘Time to overthrow govt.’
Congress legislature party leader K.R. Ramasamy asked why the CM did not meet the protesters till the 100th day or after that. For the AIADMK government, “commissions” were important. The government would not be bothered even if 100 people were shot dead, he alleged, adding that the State would have to face “dire consequences” if this rule continued. “It is time to overthrow them,” he said.
DMK deputy leader Duraimurugan accused the Chief Minister of suppressing facts in the Assembly. In his speech, there was no mention of 13 people killed and there was no mention of police firing. “Where are the facts?” he asked.
DMK MLA P.T.R. Palanivel Thiagarajan alleged this was the fist time a sniper squad was used against peaceful protesters in T.N.’s history. “If the government was so unprepared that it had no water canons or rubber bullets, where did the snipers come from?” he asked.
Former Ministers Thangam Thennarasu and I. Periyasamy said the Thoothukudi firing was a “pre-planned, cold-blooded” murder. Congress MLAs Vijayadharani and H. Vasanthakumar and IUML MLA Muhammed Abubacker accused the State of being a slave of the Centre.
DMK MLAs from Thoothukudi district set the tone for the model Assembly. Geetha Jeevan recalled that four people died in the first protest against Sterlite and that it was AIADMK leader and the then Chief Minister Jayalalithaa who laid the foundation stone for the factory. Anitha Radhakrishnan said the struggle was carried forward by nine organisations, including that of traders, fishermen and farmers, and the parties had no role in it.
The model Assembly led by DMK whip Chakrapani passed two resolutions seeking ₹1 crore compensation for the families of the 13 victims and urging the Centre to constitute the Cauvery Management Authority by June 1 as directed by the Supreme Court.
The DMK plans to hold more sessions across the State. The dates and venues would be decided after a meeting of district secretaries and MLAs at the party headquarters on June 2, sources said.
