R Dhanapal hails Jayalalithaa as champion of Dalits, Sri Lankan Tamils

Chennai: Speaker R. Dhanapal on Saturday hailed Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa as the champion of downtrodden and said making him the Speaker was one of the acts that showed her benevolence to the oppressed communities as he himself belonged to one such community.

Jayalalithaa worked for lifting the oppressed people and raising them to seats of power, he said and praised her as the protector of social justice, light and lighthouse to guide the people of SC communities.

Even while DMK and Congress, facing allegations of helping the Sri Lankan government in the masscare of island Tamils from pro-Tamil olutfits, have joined hands together, Speaker R. Dhanapal on Saturday highlighted the resolution calling for international investigation into the massacre of Sri Lankan Tamils passed by the AIADMK government.

In a speech at the concluding of the final session of the 14th Assembly, he listed the major events in the Assembly for the last five years. Dhanapal said though sea water and boundaries geographically separated Lankan Tamils, they are inseparable from people of Tamil Nadu by sentiments and blood. He also hailed Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on the Cauvery, Katchatheevu island and Mullaiperiyar issues.

Justifying his conduct of the Assembly proceedings, he said he did not individually hated or liked anyone and functioned as per the traditions of the Assembly.