DMK President M K Stalin arrested, says ‘black day for democracy’

Stalin was arrested after he sat on a protest at Marina beach against the alleged attack on him and his party MLAs in the state Assembly.

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Opposition party leader in Tamil Nadu Assembly, M K Stalin displays his torn shirt after the ruckus experienced during the confidence of vote was taken outside Fort St George in Chennai on Saturday. PTI Photo

DMK President and Leader of Opposition M K Stalin was arrested on Saturday following a day-long tussle after protests erupted against Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami winning the trust vote in the state assembly. The Tamil Nadu assembly witnessed high drama as both Speaker P Dhanapal and Stalin alleged their shirts were torn due to the ruckus in the House. Toppled chairs, strewn paper pieces, unruly scenes of jostling, strident sloganeering and displacement of mikes bore testimony to a virtual war-like situation in the Assembly.

As the drama escalated, the Speaker ordered the eviction of DMK members with marshals trying hard to remove them. The DMK members resisted eviction with all their might. An agitated Stalin, the DMK’s working president, told the watch and ward staff that the members would harm themselves if they were taken out. Despite the Speaker adjourning the House at 1.28 pm, the marshals faced a tough time asking the unrelenting DMK members to move out. Stalin told the large number of watch and ward staff that “People are against this proxy regime, we are fighting for the people.” “If you try to evict us by force, we would be constrained to harm ourselves, we may even consider suicide,” he threatened.

Soon, top police officials led by city Police Commissioner S George arrived in the Assembly precincts and held hectic consultations. Finally, marshals were instructed to physically evict the DMK members, with all hell breaking lose and a free-for-all ensuing. While watch and ward staff physically carried legislators, DMK MLAs resisted by whatever means they could. Stalin, when being carried over by marshals, thumped his head with his hands and shook hard his legs resisting removal.

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Following the removal of DMK leaders from the assembly, Stalin met Governor C Vidyasagar Rao.

Later in the day, Stalin was arrested after he sat on a protest at Marina beach against the alleged attack on him and his party MLAs in the state Assembly. He termed Saturday as a “black day” for democracy, the DMK leader urged all those who wanted to “remove” the “anti-democratic” AIADMK government to join him. “It is a black day for democracy. This anti-people(AIADMK) government must be removed. Insisting that a peaceful protest is underway at the Marina. Those who want to remove this anti-democratic government should converge at the Marina,” he said in a statement in Chennai.

The AIADMK government sailed through the crucial trust vote with a 122-11 margin. However, the Spealer said, “I am hurt and ashamed.”

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