Cases against MK Stalin and 1,110 others for protest

Chennai: The State hit back at the ‘quarrelsome’ DMK on Sunday with the police slamming a string of criminal cases against the party’s working president M.K.Stalin and several of his lieutenants for their ‘disruptive’ public agitations objecting to Governor Banwarilal Purohit’s alleged interference in the administration violating Constitutional norms. Worse times seem to be just around the corner for the state’s main opposition party.

The Raj Bhavan issued a statement that not only reiterated the Governor’s right to go on his tours and talk to the state officials but also issued a stiff warning that those attempting to “wrongfully restrain or overawe by means of criminal force or the show of criminal force…shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to seven years and shall be liable to fine”.

The Governor’s ire was obviously prompted by Stalin’s rally on Saturday to lodge a protest against the arrest of the DMK cadres in Namakkal after they demonstrated against Purohit’s visit to the district the previous day.

The DMK has been holding such agitations and black-flag demonstrations against the Governor whenever he went on his district tours and held meetings with local officials on the progress in government schemes, particularly those related to Swachch Bharat. It started in November last year following his Coimbatore trip.

Stalin’s Saturday rally caused traffic chaos as the DMK leader and his followers blocked the busy road between Saidapet and Raj Bhavan while attempting to picket the Governor’s abode. They were stopped at some distance from the Raj Bhavan and were taken into custody, only to be let off in the evening after being held at a marriage hall.

Guindy police said cases have been registered against Stalin and 1,110 others, under section 143 (unlawful assembly) and 188 (disobedience of order duly promulgated by public servant) of the Indian Penal Code — the Chennai Police Commissioner had promulgated ban of any protest near the Raj Bhavan. “We released them in the evening on bail as the IPC sections are bailable”, said a police source.

But insiders insist that this could well be the beginning of the cracking of the whip by the State even as Stalin has been warning of stepping up agitations against the Governor’s “attempts to interfere in the administration through his review meetings”.

The DMK leader tweeted on Sunday his resolve to continue with the demos against the Governor, saying: “The AIADMK may lack the guts to oppose the Governor’s attempts to violate the state’s rights but the DMK certainly has the guts to fight”. He also accused the Governor of running a “parallel government” from the Raj Bhavan and said TN people knew that through his ‘review meetings’, the Governor was performing the task of the state BJP president in doing “vote-bank politics” of the saffron party.

Well, there have not been any protests or complaining by any member of the public, social activists or the NGO community closely monitoring such allegations of infringements of state rights by either the Centre or its agents/agencies, that Governor Purohit was indeed doing what Stalin has been accusing him of. There is a general feeling among the people that there have never been ‘review’ meetings but only interactive sessions where the Governor heard the district officers brief him about the local issues and the progress of various programmes while he in turn gave them some ‘advice’ and ‘casual views’— certainly not any directions to act this way or that.

Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami made clear, yet again on Sunday, that his government had no problem with Governor Purohit making his district trips and meeting the officials. Elaborating further, Tamil culture and archeology minister Mafoi Pandiarajan said the Governor did no wrong and that he “knows his rights and duties as provided by the Constitution”.  

“Showing black flags at the Governor is wrong legally and morally”, said Pandiarajan, considered by many as a very sober and mature mind in the state cabinet.