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Sparks fly on law and order debate
The issue of maintaining law and order and communal harmony kept Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami, his Deputy O Panneerselvam, Leader of Opposition MK Stalin and his Deputy Duraimurugan engaged as the big four in the Assembly were involved in sharp exchanges on the issues on Tuesday.
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Chennai
Stalin set the ball rolling by opening his debate on the demand for grants for police department by remarking that the law and order situation has reached such a state in Tamil Nadu that the government has constituted an inquiry commission in six months since satisfaction was expressed on the law and order situation in the state in the Governor’s address in January 2018.
An unrelenting Stalin referred to the Justice Sampath and Justice Rajeswaran commissions of inquiry constituted to probe the Paramakudi firing and Jallikattu protest violence in the AIADMK regime and said the government has constituted three commissions of inquiry to probe police excess.
Wondering if the government was unprepared to handle democratic protests, Stalin recalled the observation of the Madras High Court which called the Thoothukudi firing a fit case for CBI probe and sought to know what has become of the efficiency of the state police, which is equated with Scotland Yard? Listing out various cases of theft, chain snatching, dacoity and murder the DMK working president borrowed an old quote from his party founder late CN Annadurai and said the onus of probing allegations against serving officers was on the rulers and demanding evidence would only help divert attention and not resolve the issue.
Intervening during the debate, Palaniswami, loaded with statistics, compared the crime rate during the DMK and previous AIADMK regime and said the law and order situation has always been good during the AIADMK tenure.
While conveniently avoiding a reply to Stalin’s specific query on Union Minister Pon Radhakrishnan’s allegation that Maoists and Naxalites were training in the state forests, the CM justified the recent police firing in Thoothukudi and said the deaths have happened even in police action taken during the DMK regime.
Claiming that 33 persons were killed in 67 incidents involving use of guns in the previous DMK regime, Palaniswami clarified that actions were taken by police based on the legal exigencies arising now and then, irrespective of regimes.
Asserting that law and order situation was better in TN than other states, the CM said that some people were instigating people to protest to gain mileage and warned of stern action.
Duraimurugan hits out at OPS
Joining the issue, a sarcastic Duraimurugan, reacting to the CM’s comparison, asked the Deputy Chief Minister to elaborate how he maintained law and order during his stint as CM, leaving most of the House in splits.
An alert Palaniswami responded to the jab in style by adding; “You are trying to disturb the unity in our party. It will never happen.” As Stalin concluded by accusing AIADMK of giving space to communal forces, Panneerselvam intervened and advised the Opposition not to sow “toxic seeds” and said that the AIADMK had ruled the state the most and people gave his party the opportunity because the government was against communal forces.
An alert Duraimurugan clarified that they have the right to speak as do the treasury benches to deny, prompting a clarification from Panneerselvam, who said they had quit the government at the Centre on ideological grounds, apparently referring to the AIADMK pulling out of Vajpayee govt two decades ago. However, Duraimurugan added by wondering in his inimitable style if that was why the AIADMK had supported kar seva. OPS responded in kind by seeking to know if the DMK did not know if it were communal when they were in alliance with the BJP then.
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