Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) working president M. K. Stalin on Sunday asserted that Tamil Nadu was witnessing a “non-performing government” under Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami, which was unconcerned about protecting the State’s rights.
“The Edappadi K. Palaniswami-headed AIADMK (Amma) rule is being controlled by the BJP government at the Centre,” Mr. Stalin charged.
The DMK leader made these accusations while speaking at a demonstration organised by the party here to condemn the arrest of three DMK MLAs of Pudukottai district when they were on their way to attend the inaugural of the Government Medical College and Hospital in the district a few days ago, in which the Chief Minister had taken part.
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Hitting out at the ruling party, Mr. Stalin said that the ‘benami’ government of Edappadi K. Palaniswami had resorted to ‘indecent’ politics by arresting DMK MLAs after having invited them for the inauguration of the Pudukottai Government Medical College.
“By arresting the DMK MLAs, the government had displayed its autocratic attitude,” Mr. Stalin charged.
The three MLAs had been extended an invitation, and having done that, what was the need to arrest them?” the DMK leader questioned.
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Although the foundation for the Pudukottai Government Medical College was laid in 2011 during the DMK government, the project was put in cold storage after change of power that year. The project was kept in abeyance as the AIADMK government had felt that implementing it would result in DMK getting due recognition, he said.
The Edappadi K. Palaniswami government arrested the DMK MLAs out of fear that the party’s elected representatives would disclose the facts during the inaugural function, Mr. Stalin claimed.
War crimes probe
The DMK leader also demanded a reliable independent investigation by international judges into the war crimes and human rights violations committed by the Sri Lankan armed forces against the ethnic Tamils in the last leg of the civil war in 2009.
In a letter to Kate Gilmore, the United Nations Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mr. Stalin said that Sri Lankan Tamils needed a meaningful political solution to live with self-respect, which could only be achieved by a referendum among the Eelam Tamils, including Tamils living abroad.