Vijay’s MISA fire rages in House, DMK MLAs evicted

CHENNAI: The sparks triggered by Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay’s speech in the Assembly a day ago spread into an inferno on the last day of the budget session on Tuesday, leading to angry exchanges, shouting and sloganeering, and storming the well by the DMK members, eventually resulting in their expulsion from the House.

The storm was fueled by Speaker JCD Prabhakar’s decision not to expunge the allegations that Vijay had made against late DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi, late leader Murasoli Maran, and other leaders during the speech on Monday.

When the day’s proceedings commenced, DMK whip EV Velu charged that the chief minister violated Assembly rules and norms by referring the matters under court inquiry and raising charges against deceased persons.

The key point of contention was Vijay mocking the DMK as a whole, and its president MK Stalin in particular, over what he termed as repeated claims over facing the Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA), the draconian law used during the Emergency.

Velu said Vijay’s speech was baseless and without evidence, and should thus be expunged from the House records.

Replying to him, Minister R Nirmalkumar said Stalin’s arrest was over various reasons, but there was no record to prove that it was linked to MISA. The implication of his speech angered DMK members who rose in protest, leading to a warning of counter protest by Minister Aadhav Arjuna that the treasury benches were bigger in number – and could be louder in volume. His cabinet colleague and Leader of the House KA Sengottaiyan said there was no need to expunge Vijay’s speech.

When the DMK members stormed the well, Speaker Prabhakar ordered their eviction en masse for disrupting the proceedings of the House.