Time to pay back AIADMK, BJP for May 22 firing, Stalin tells voters

Campaigning for his sister and party candidate MK Kanimozhi and the party’s candidate from Vilanthikulam Assembly segment AC Jayakumar, Stalin urged the voters to teach a befitting lesson to the alliance led by the ruling party in the state. Going a step further, he said that such an unfortunate incident would not have happened if the District Collector had held talks with the protesters.

The police did not even warn the agitators, who gathered for a silent protest march to petition the Collector against the expansion of the Sterlite plant, he said and added that the police opened fire on innocent persons with a plan to intimidate the people and suppress the protest.

Wondering whether the firing order was given by CM Edappadi K Palaniswami, Chief Secretary Girija Vaidyanathan or PM Narendra Modi, Stalin said neither Modi not Palaniswami expressed regret after the incident. “It is time to bring an end to AIADMK’s murderous reign,” he added.

While Modi tweeted regretting an incident in northern India where a boy was trapped in an elevator, Stalin said, he did not show the same reaction to the victims killed in Thoothukudi firing. This, he said, showed how he treated the people of Tamil Nadu, and hence he could be called ‘sadist’ and ‘fascist’.

While the agitation against Koodankulam nuclear power plant, similar to the one against Sterlite, were going on cases were registered against the protesters and they were yet to be withdrawn.

Referring to the data on communal riots in India presented in parliament, Stalin said most of the communal riots in which people were killed occurred in BJP-ruled states – while Uttar Pradesh witnessed the maximum number of such incidents, it was followed by Gujarat, Bihar and Maharashtra.

Cautioning that BJP was trying to create unrest in TN, he said that the DMK would never allow it to ruin the state. Taking a dig at BJP candidate Tamilisai Soundararajan, he wondered whether she had chosen Thoothukudi constituency to lose the election and the deposit.

On the announcement of bypolls to four Assembly seats in TN, he said, “if DMK wins all the 22 Assembly seats, the party will be able to prove its majority in the Assembly” hinting at change of guard in the state.

Stating that victory of DMK in the April 18 elections was inevitable, Stalin said a massive celebratory programme would be organised on the occasion of late DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi’s birth anniversary on June 3.

DMK chief MK Stalin will campaign for Congress’ Lok Sabha candidate V Vaithilingam and DMK’s candidate from Thattanchavady Assembly seat Venkatesan in Puducherry on Thursday. He will address a meeting at the Regulatory Marketing Committee thidal in the Union Territory on Thursday morning. PCC president A Namasivayam has exhorted the party cadre to attend the meeting in large numbers.