The rulers of the State will be disappointed if they believe that they can run the government by resorting to intimidatory tactics and autocratic measures, thereby keeping the State in a tense situation, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) president M. Karunanidhi said on Saturday.
In a statement here, he said that the 100-day rule of the AIADMK regime had seen the arrest of 323 people under Goondas Act. It could have happened either because of a sudden spurt in crime or the preventive detention law being invoked to cow down DMK activists.
“Basically, the Goondas Act is against human rights and can be invoked only after careful consideration. But, 15 DMK workers have been arrested under the Act with a political motive. They are languishing in jail without any legal remedy for bail.”
He, however, averred that the DMK workers would not be cowed down easily by repressive measures. “They have seen the worst of times.”
Mr. Karunanidhi also accused the AIADMK government of adopting a different yardstick when it came to land grabbing complaints against DMK workers while turning a blind eye towards similar complaints against ruling party activists.
He said that despite increasing allegations against the members of the ruling party in connection with land grabbing cases, the police were bending rules to suit their interests. Mr. Karunanidhi said there appeared to be “police raj” in the State. The police had been directed to carry out the political diktats of the ruling party and were harassing DMK functionaries. “They are arresting DMK men on false complaints and many a time register a complaint only after arresting them. They are being arrested without warrant and those granted bail arrested on new complaint.”
Mr. Karunanidhi said the arrested DMK workers had been sent to prisons far away from their hometown to prevent family members from meeting them. “Such a situation did not exist even during the days of the Emergency.” He hoped that courts would step in to arrest the trend.
