Recalling the arrest of six persons with ISIS links in Kerala, three persons at Yervadi, including a Pakistani national Mohammed Younis who had infiltrated into India via Sri Lanka, and six youth at Keelakarai in Ramanathapuram, Palaniswami said the vigilant policemen were preventing the infiltration of Naxalites into the state by keeping constant vigil on inter-state borders and frequent combing of the state forests.

Drawing the attention of the House to the arrest of alleged Maoists Mahalingam, Murali, Murugan and Regina Jose Mary, who were at large for long, Palaniswami said the police were constantly preventing seaward incursion of terrorists by stepping up vigil jointly with the Coast Guard, coastal security group and the Navy.

Responding to Leader of Opposition MK Stalin’s charge that the state was on the boil because of quelling of democratic protests, Palaniswami said the police was handling protests patiently and smartly when people agitate fearing threat to their livelihood. Some parties have made it their prime agenda to organise protests daily and create an impression that law and order was deteriorating in the state in the vain hope of destabilising Amma’s regime and capture power, Palaniswami said, obviously referring to the DMK.

Drawing reference from the Bureau of Police Research and Development, which suggested that 15 per cent of the protests in the country were happening in Tamil Nadu, Palaniswami said that the state was recording 47 protests daily. He put the total number of protests organised by various groups, including those organised by political parties and government employees, at 31,269 in 2017.