TVK hits back at Stalin over MISA video, questions his ‘sacrificer’ image

CHENNAI: The ruling TVK on Thursday hit back at DMK president and former Chief Minister M K Stalin over his video recalling his arrest and alleged custodial assault during the Emergency, accusing him of trying to protect what it described as a false image built around his MISA detention.

In a statement, the TVK’s IT wing questioned whether Stalin was rattled by the alleged exposure of an image of a sacrificer who went to jail that, it claimed, had been carefully built over several years.

“Is the anxiety mounting because the false image of a ‘sacrificer who went to jail’, built over several years, has been shattered?” the IT wing asked.

It also alleged that matters which the DMK leadership had sought to keep from public view had now come to light and questioned Stalin’s silence on what it called the detention.

“Despite speaking at such length, he did not utter a word about the detention copy,” the statement said.

The TVK wing further said, “Truth needs neither publicity nor explanations,” and claimed that the release of a video showing the events had exposed what it called a false image.

It also criticised Stalin’s video as containing multiple cuts and an emotionless speech, describing it as an unsuccessful attempt to make people accept what it termed another version of events.

The war of words followed CM C Joseph Vijay’s remarks in the Assembly on Stalin’s MISA detention during the Emergency. Stalin, in his video released on Thursday, recalled the alleged violence he suffered in custody and said his jaw was broken in the assault. He also referred to Chitti Babu’s death in prison and asked CM Vijay whether he had forgotten an earlier conversation between them.