The voters of Thoothukudi district should render justice for every drop of blood shed by the anti-Sterlite protestors killed in police firing and the gruesome killing of trader P. Jayaraj and his son Benicks due to custodial torture by the police, MDMK general secretary Vaiko appealed.
Campaigning for DMK candidate for Tiruchendur constituency Anita R. Radhakrishnan on Saturday evening, Mr. Vaiko said the police, to safeguard the business interests of mining baron Anil Agarwal’s Sterlite Copper, hunted down the anti-Sterlite protestors even as they took out a peaceful march to submit a petition to the Collector to highlight their demand of permanent closure of the copper smelter.
The police, in a bid to justify their gruesome murders, set fire to vehicles to show the world that the arson had been set off by the protestors.
“I met the traumatised families of the deceased, whose agony cannot be described in any terms. Though human right activists had camped in Thoothukudi to compile voluminous report on this incident, I don’t know how and when the justice will be rendered to these families. But I firmly believe that you, the electorate of Thoothukudi district, can render justice through your votes by handing over crushing defeat to these perpetrators in the upcoming Assembly election on April 6,” Mr. Vaiko said.
He also recalled the brutal murder of Sattankulam trader Jayaraj and his son Benicks due to custodial torture.
The MDMK general secretary said there was no safety and justice for the minorities in the country as the Narendra Modi-led Union Government was launching systematic attack on the Muslims living across the country – right from Kashmir to Kanniyakumari.
After autocratically removing Article 370 of Indian Constitution that guaranteed special status to Kashmir, the Muslims there were not even allowed to move out of their houses while Internet connectivity was down for more than a year in a bid to isolate the population there from rest of the world.
“After detaining the leaders including Farook Abdullah, his son Omar Abdulla, Mehboobha Muft and others, the people of Kashmir were not even allowed to contact others to share their plight. Even though the international community and the media were very much concerned about the state of affairs in Kashmir, the Modi-led government was keen on murdering democracy in Kashmir. There is no safety for minorities under the rule of Mr. Narendra Modi, who pushes aggressively Citizenship Amendment Act and Farmers’ Act for the benefit of corporates,” Mr. Vaiko said as Kaayalpattinam houses sizeable Muslim population.
He assured that the Secular Progressive Alliance would safeguard the interests of the minorities despite the threat from BJP’s ‘One nation, one language, one culture and one religion’ ideology.
Mr. Vaiko said the voters, who had been hit hard by unprecedented inflation, sustained steps being taken by the Centre to destabilise the diversity of the country, and other unsafe situations being created by the State and the Central Governments for political gains could be neutralised only if the Secular Progressive Alliance in Tamil Nadu was strengthened in the Assembly polls.
