DMK chief Stalin questions way TN Assembly proceedings being held

CHENNAI: With the Tamil Nadu Assembly witnessing ruckus and eventual eviction of DMK MLAs on Tuesday, party chief MK Stalin questioned the way the proceedings were held.

Speaking to journalists at the party headquarters, Anna Arivalayam, where DMK legislators assembled after being evicted from the House, Stalin was asked whether the current Assembly was being conducted with "dignity".

"You are asking the question yourself whether it is being conducted with dignity. It is being run in such a manner that it warrants that very question," Stalin replied.

Earlier in the day, following the ruckus over Vijay's certain references regarding DMK in the House on Monday, Speaker JCD Prabhakar had directed the eviction of the main opposition party's MLAs.

Meanwhile, Senior DMK leader EV Velu alleged that Vijay had violated Assembly Rule 92, which explicitly bars debates on matters that are pending before a court of law.

Addressing a press conference, the former minister noted that the opposition listened patiently while the chief minister spoke. However, the CM then referred to an ongoing Enforcement Directorate (ED) case and read out an affidavit in the House, "violating" established rules.

The DMK leader further alleged that the chief minister went on to mock the DMK leadership's incarceration under the Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA) during the Emergency, adopting theatrical body language and gestures to trivialise the "sacrifices of DMK veterans".

Velu also criticised the treasury benches for reviving debates around the Sarkaria Commission to malign the late former Union Minister Murasoli Maran.

Pointing out that all 28 allegations examined by the Commission were closed for lack of evidence, Velu recalled that AIADMK founder MG Ramachandran had himself submitted to the panel that he merely forwarded a complaint handed to him by an advocate.

Velu questioned the propriety of CM Vijay attacking Maran, pointing out that the CM had previously attended the release of a commemorative postage stamp honouring the DMK leader in alongside MP Dayanidhi Maran and had acted in films produced by that family.

"During Zero Hour, we represented to the Speaker that discussing a sub-judice ED case violated Assembly rules, that mocking MISA sacrifices was unacceptable, and that raking up the dismissed Sarkaria Commission allegations was inappropriate. We demanded that all three references be expunged from the Assembly records," Velu said.

"However, the Speaker refused to expunge the remarks. When we pressed our legitimate, democratic demand, the police and marshals were deployed to physically lift and throw us out," he added.

Accusing the ruling dispensation of engaging in image-building rather than substantive governance, Velu contrasted the DMK's "real administration under the Dravidian model" with what he termed "reel governance" manufactured for social media video clips.

He also dismissed the treasury benches' claim that a woman legislator recently presiding from the Speaker's chair was unprecedented, citing historical precedents of women members including AS Ponnammal and D Yasodha presiding over House proceedings in the past.