DMK president and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on June 13 questioned the act of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) searching the office of Electricity Minister V. Senthilbalaji at the State Secretariat even though he had promised to cooperate with the officials of the ED and was ready to give proper reply for any documents seized.
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“I do not understand why there is a need for the search at the Secretariat. I do not know whether they want to convey the message that they could conduct raids in the Secretariat and make use of it to threaten us. It clearly shows that the investigation agency functions with ulterior political motives,” he charged in a statement while the searches were under way.
Mr. Stalin alleged the BJP Government at the Centre would always make use of the official agencies under its control against its political opponents. “I have been saying that is the only way they know and there are a lot of similar examples in the country. Many States have witnessed such incidents,” he said.
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The Chief Minister wanted to know the “meaning of the raids” happening two days after the visit of Home Minister Amit Shah to Tamil Nadu.
“Mr. Shah strongly criticised the DMK and the government on a public platform and we issued proper clarifications and explanations. But the ED has launched an onslaught on the Secretariat and it amounts to denigrating federalism,” he said.
Mr. Stalin also wanted to know whether the BJP leaders sought to preserve the dignity of the Constitution by sending Central forces to the Secretariat.
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Recalling the 2016 searches conducted by the Income-Tax department at the residence of then Chief Secretary Rama Mohan Rao and the Secretariat, “which functions as the brain of the state government,” the Chief MInister said on the one hand the BJP government was pontificating federalism and on the other sent central police forces into the Secretariat.
“Though the leaders [AIADMK] of that period did not bother to condemn the action against State autonomy, I issued a statement against it. It is not important who faced the raids, but where it was conducted. The BJP Government is setting wrong precedents,” he alleged.
Mr. Stalin said the people had been watching the BJP’s intimidatory politics and the BJP leadership should realise that they could not succeed in “backdoor intimidatory tactics” when it was not able to face others politically. “Time is catching up with them. They will realise it,” he added.