Violence spree across Tamil Nadu exposes L&O breakdown: EPS

CHENNAI: AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami on Saturday alleged that Tamil Nadu was witnessing a complete breakdown of law and order, pointing to a series of violent incidents reported within 24 hours across the State.

In a statement, he said the recent incidents painted a “terrifying picture” of a government that had failed in its basic responsibility to ensure public safety. “The news that has emerged in the last 24 hours clearly shows that law and order have gone to hell under the Stalin-led government,” he said.

He listed several incidents, including the death of a class 12 student following a clash among school students at Patteeswaram near Kumbakonam, the killing of a vegetable vendor with a weighing scale in Sirkazhi in Mayiladuthurai district, and the beheading of a youth in Thoppur in Salem, where police were still searching for the severed head. He also referred to an attempted robbery in broad daylight in Nagercoil, in which a woman escaped unhurt.

Palaniswami said these incidents exposed the “grim truth” about the State’s deteriorating law and order situation. He said education must uplift students, not lead them into violence, but student-related clashes were rising dangerously. The government, he said, should “hang its head in shame” for failing to control conflicts that had escalated into murder.

He said Tamil Nadu’s development had suffered because the government was unable to maintain basic law and order. He urged the State to take corrective measures in the remaining months of its tenure to ensure people were not subjected to further chaos.