Vaiko walks into trap he & friends set

Vaiko will be produced before the Madurai Judicial Magistrate VII Vanitha on Friday and remanded to judicial custody. While being taken to the waiting police vehicle, Vaiko managed to make a brief speech condemning the ‘‘fascist and autocratic rule of Jayalalithaa.’’

‘‘We will mobilise the people of Tamil Nadu against the fascist rule of Jayalalithaa and bring down her government,’’ said Vaiko. He also recalled the violence unleashed by AIADMK workers when Jayalalithaa was arrested in a corruption case during the previous DMK regime.

‘‘Three college girls were charred to death and several buses were set ablaze and shops attacked by AIADMK cadres. But our agitation will never turn violent. We won’t force traders to down their shutters or cause damage to private or public property.’’

The MDMK’s minister in the Cabinet, MoS Gingee Ramachandran, also condemned the arrest, saying the people of the state would teach Jayalalithaa a ‘‘lesson’’. But his allies stayed mum: the BJP’s two major allies in Tamil Nadu, the DMK and the PMK, were non-committal on extending support to the MDMK’s protest demonstrations being planned for Friday.

DMK president M Karunanidhi said that contrary to the hopes of Prime Minister A B Vajpayee and Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani, the AIADMK government had misused POTA for political purposes. Vaiko’s arrest was a ‘‘diversionary tactic’’, he said.

Asked what would the DMK’s next step would be, Karunanidhi said: ‘‘We have no plans on that score.’’ Asked whether the DMK would seek for the withdrawal of POTA, he said: ‘‘It is for Vajpayee and Advani to decide.’’

PMK founder S Ramadoss echoed Karunanidhi’s view that the AIADMK government wanted to divert attention from real issues. ‘‘It is a clear misuse of POTA, which should be used only in the border states to curb cross-border terrorism. It has no relevance in other regions, especially in Tamil Nadu which is facing no terrorist threat,’’ he told reporters.

Ramadoss, who is also an ardent LTTE supporter, maintained that the ban on the LTTE should be lifted. ‘‘The Sri Lankan ethnic crisis cannot be resolved without the LTTE’s participation,’’ he stressed. But he too didn’t commit himself on launching an agitation for Vaiko’s release.

The State BJP unit, predictably, termed Vaiko’s arrest as ‘‘unfortunate’’. The newly appointed BJP all-India secretary, L Ganesan, told The Indian Express that his party extended ‘‘moral’’ support to Vaiko since the MDMK leader had helped the BJP and the NDA government in crunch situations.

Since the MDMK had announced that it take the battle to the courts, there was no need to join the MDMK’s agitation seeking Vaiko’s release, added Ganesan.