Vijay Peeved Over No Nod For Campaign Meeting
In a social media message on Friday, Vijay said that while due permission was sought from Chennai Police two days in advance, on March 26, for holding the public meeting on March 28 at Mullainagar junction in Perambur Assembly constituency, the spot was dug up on March 27 and iron barricades and rods erected to present the place as unfit for the meeting.
Chennai: Calling the refusal of permission for the meeting to launch the Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam’s election campaign at Perambur on Saturday as a ‘fascist attack on democracy,’ TVK president Vijay said the ban was a testimony of the DMK’s fear over his party's popularity.
In a social media message on Friday, Vijay said that while due permission was sought from Chennai Police two days in advance, on March 26, for holding the public meeting on March 28 at Mullainagar junction in Perambur Assembly constituency, the spot was dug up on March 27 and iron barricades and rods erected to present the place as unfit for the meeting.
Vijay said that the police had also certified that 3000 persons could not gather at the spot and rejected the petition of the TVK for holding the meeting there. It had become a regular feature with the DMK regime to deny or delay permission for meetings, whenever the TVK applied for organising them, he said.
The deliberate crushing of the democratic rights of a fledgling political party enjoying popular support looked like the handiwork of some officers acting at the behest of the ruling party, he said, adding that the thought of putting down with brute force anyone who might emerge as an opponent of the ruling party was nothing but blatant oppression.
The episode was also a testimony to the fear that had gripped the DMK over the TVK’s popularity and of the people packing them off in the elections, he said.
News of the cancellation of the meeting created a flutter among the TVK cadre who were visiting Perambur where the party’s election office is also being constructed.
However, the event organized at the posh Taj Coromandel hotel in Chennai on Sunday to introduce the party's full complement of 234 candidates for the Assembly elections would be held as per schedule.
So the party workers and functionaries were busy in making arrangements for the introductory meeting and for transporting the chosen candidates to the venue to kick start the election work formally.