CHENNAI: PMK founder Dr S Ramadoss on Friday condemned the arrest of party president Dr Anbumani Ramadoss and the lathi-charge of the cadre protesting against land acquisition for the NLC and asserted that it would not back down from protest fearing repression.
“Although thousands of people took part in the protest, it was conducted in a peaceful manner. When Anbumani tried to picket the NLC, the police should have allowed them. However, the police arrested Anbumani and others. With tension gripping, the PMK cadre were indiscriminately lathi-charged and it led to worsening of the situation,” Ramadoss said in a statement.
Noting that the PMK cadre resorted to protest (against the police) only after the brutal canning of a supporter by 10 policemen, he said that the attitude and transgressions of the police in handling the PMK’s protest against the NLC and protecting land and people is condemnable. “PMK struggle cannot be suppressed through such acts,” he said.
Asking the state and the NLC to take a cue from West Bengal’s Nandigram and Singur protests against the forceful land acquisition, he demanded the state government not to side with the public sector company and the Cuddalore administration, which did not respect the people’s sentiment to take the land under cultivation using machinery. “Since, Tamil Nadu has become a power surplus state, people in Cuddalore district want the NLC to be moved out from there. The state government should stand with the people and not support the NLC,” he added.