Chennai: The opposition parties slammed the BJP-led government at the Centre over the arrest of the Left wing activists over the Koregaon-Bhima issue, on Thursday.
Assailing the Central government immediately after Union road transport, highways and shipping minister Nitin Gadkari left from the venue where the memorial meeting for late DMK chief M. Karunanidhi was held, CPI (M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury who alleged that the country was witnessing a “state-patronised emergency” urged the opposition parties to rally together against the BJP-led NDA government.
Instead of taking action against perpetrators of Koregaon Bhima violence, victims were targeted, he charged. “Those who support the victims are arrested under draconian UAPA; fortunately, the judiciary intervened,” he said addressing the memorial event to commemorate late DMK chief M Karunanidhi.
The nation was witnessing “a state patronised emergency, undeclared and worse than the declared emergency (in 1975),” he said adding this should be halted. Paying homage to Karunanidhi only meant fighting against such authoritarian trend, he said and wanted “redoubling of resolve” so that “violation of democratic rights and civil liberties,” were not tolerated.
“We have to redouble our resolve, that this fight for saving and then consolidating and strengthening the idea of India, all of us sitting here (leaders of various opposition parties) have to be committed,” he said.
Without naming the BJP or the Centre, he said the nation was witnessing “exclusion,” far away from values of inclusivity espoused by the late DMK patriarch.
The late DMK leader's work as a script writer should be seen as part of the work of the Dravidian movement's towards an egalitarian society, he said.
Jammu & Kashmir National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah exhorted DMK president M. K. Stalin to work together with regional parties to fight “dictatorship” in the party. “Together, we will never be able to follow the path of this great man (Karunanidhi),” said Abdullah. “Stalin, I tell you, please lead us. Take us, and our children, towards an India where they can live with freedom,” Abdullah said.
Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, JD (U)’s Nitish kumar, former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda Trinamool Congress' Derek O’ Brien, paid tributes to Karunanidhi.
