DMK president M.K. Stalin on Monday accused Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami of hoodwinking and misleading the people by spreading disinformation and painting a false picture of the implications of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and the proposed National Register of Citizens.
Addressing a public meeting after unveiling a statue of late DMK patriarch and former Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi at Kalaignar Arivalayam in Villupuram, he said that while the whole country was on the boil, the Chief Minister was claiming that nothing will happen as a result of the implementation of the CAA.
Mr. Stalin scoffed at Mr. Palaniswami’s statement that the government will initiate steps to confer dual citizenship on Sri Lankan Tamil refugees. This was absolutely impossible as there was no provision in the relevant legislations in either India or Sri Lanka to grant dual citizenship, he pointed out.
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The CAA and the NRC had brought about sustained protests across the country, from Kashmir to Kanniyakumari. The AIADMK government had betrayed Sri Lankan Tamils and minorities by claiming that nothing will happen as a result of the implementation of the CAA, he said.
Using cinema parlance, the DMK leader said his party’s victory in the rural local body polls was only the ‘interval’, while the ‘climax’ will come during the next Assembly polls. He reiterated that once he is voted into power, he will order a probe into former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa’s death and bring to book those involved in the Pollachi sexual harassment case and the Kodanad estate ‘murders’.
Mr. Palaniswami had been unable to digest the “record performance” of the DMK in the local body polls, he said. The party will score victories in the elections to urban local bodies as well as the Assembly polls in 2021, he added.
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Mr. Stalin said it was surprising that Mr. Palaniswami had been claiming credit for the awards received by the government for good governance, adding that such awards had lost their value.
Everyone knew that the law and order situation in the State was bad, he said. “How can the Chief Minister’s claims be justified when a Special Sub-Inspector was shot dead, allegedly by extremists, at a check-post in Kanniyakumari?” he asked.