Chennai: DMK Working President M.K. Stalin was on Saturday detained after he sat on a protest at Marina beach here against the alleged attack on him and his party MLAs during the trust vote in the state Assembly.
Terming Saturday as a “black day” for democracy, the senior DMK leader urged all those who wanted to “remove” the “anti- democratic” AIADMK government to join him.
After alleging that he was manhandled in the Assembly by the marshals on the day of the vote of confidence, which the Palaniswami government won with a comfortable margin of 122-11, Mr Stalin sat on a protest at the Marina along with his MLAs. However, police detained the protesting MLAs including Stalin.
Incidentally, the Marina had witnessed a week-long pro-jallikattu protests in January where scores of people, mainly youngsters had converged at the sands of the famous beach and agitated before it turned violent.
Earlier, the Tamil Nadu Assembly turned into a battlefield with Speaker P. Dhanapal being shoved around by the DMK legislators angered by his refusal to order secret ballot to decide on the confidence vote. He alleged that his shirt was torn and the main opposition had targeted him only because he was a Dalit.
Former CM, O. Panneerselvam then rose to tell the Speaker that MLAs were kept as prisoners at a resort in Koovathur for the last 15 days. The physical tussle between the DMK legislators and the security personnel lasted about 20 minutes at the end of which the latter managed to push the protesters out of the House. Stalin was carried out by half a dozen security men. Eyewitnesses said the DMK leader was punched on his back and his shirt was torn.
Kamal calls it ‘demockcrazy’
Actor Kamal Haasan on Saturday took potshots at the new leadership in Tamil Nadu, saying the state now has another Chief Minister and dubbed the political developments “Jai demockcrazy”.
The trust vote was preceded by eviction of principal Opposition DMK and walkout by its allies, which have 98 MLAs in the 234-member House, in protest. Taking to Twitter, Haasan wrote, “People of Tamizhnadu, Welcome your respective MLAs with the respect they deserve back home”.
He then took a dig at the decision, saying, “There you go. Seems like we have another CM. Jai demockcrazy.” “I've seen MLAs of the then ADMK now Congress walk away with bunch of plucked microphones. The English TV anchors were too young to remember. We do,” he further added.
