Hundreds of Manithaneya Makkal Katchi cadre, led by Professor M.H. Jawahirullah, protested near the Foreshore Estate Bus Terminus on Wednesday against the Citizenship Amendment Act, and singled out Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami and the AIADMK for voting in favour of the Bill in the Rajya Sabha.
They were arrested after they tried to walk towards the Chief Minister’s house on Greenways Road.
Mr. Jawahirullah demanded that Mr. Palaniswami openly state that he will not be implementing the NRC in Tamil Nadu.
“The AIADMK has lost the right to call itself a Dravidian party or that it is the party of MGR and Jayalalithaa. The AIADMK has betrayed the cause of Jayalalithaa, who wanted citizenship for Sri Lankan Tamils. Mr. Palaniswami must publicly state that they will not implement the NRC,” he said.
He singled out the AIADMK’s 11 MPs and PMK’s lone MP in the Rajya Sabha, Anbumani Ramadoss, for voting for a discriminatory Bill.
“Jayalalithaa had earlier passed several resolutions in support of the Sri Lankan Tamils in the State Assembly. But now, the AIADMK has voted against their citizenship in the Parliament. It has betrayed the Muslim minorities and Sri Lankan Tamils by supporting a Bill that is bound to break India,” said Prof. Jawahirullah.