Kamal to stay off DMK's CAA rally tomorrow

“We have formally given a letter from our leader to DMK president MK Stalin, conveying his inability to attend the rally on December 23. Our leader has reiterated his support to all sections who are protesting against the CAA. Apart from the case filed against the amendment, the party is also planning to hold movements on its own in this regard,” MNM state secretary Murali Appas said.

MNM general secretaries A Arunachalam and A Sowrirajan, state secretaries Murali Appas (Media) and Sathyamoorthy (headquarters) and executive committee member Murthy met DMK president Stalin at DMK headquarters Anna Arivalayam to hand over Kamal’s letter.

Appas said that the MNM chief has expressed his inability to attend the Opposition rally against the CAA when the DMK president invited him over phone. “Even then the DMK formally invited our party leader to attend the rally on December 23. As a courtesy, we also formally conveyed our position,” he said.

DMK organisation secretary RS Bharathi on Thursday met Kamal and invited him to join the rally. On Wednesday, Kamal, after meeting the students of Madras University, had expressed his desire to join the Opposition-led protest, if invited.

Kamal left for Singapore on Friday to have further consultation on the leg surgery he underwent here recently. “He is likely to return before the New Year but it depends on the doctor’s advice,” Appas said.

Meanwhile, the All India Youth Federation (AIYF) and the Student Federation of India (SFI), who continued with their protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC) in the city on Saturday, were detained by police on charges of unlawful assembly.

As many as 25 members of the AIYF and other organisations attempted to march towards Raj Bhavan when they were detained by the Guindy police. The incident happened after CPI leader Nallakannu addressed the gathering near Raj Bhavan.

The gathering, led by Dinesh and Bharathi, tried to march towards Raj Bhavan from Maraimalai Adigal bridge in Saidapet, crossing the barricades put up by the police and raising slogans against the central government and the union minister. At least 25 of them were taken to Guindy police station in a bus.

The traffic was affected on Anna Salai for about two hours duo to the protest. The police said that they would be booked under two sections, IPC 143 (unlawful assembly) and the City Police Act 41(6) (gathering in huge numbers without the permission of the police). 

Meanwhile, 200 men and women were secured for protesting in front of the Chennai Central Railway station on Saturday morning. They were detained at Allikulam in Chennai Park near Chennai suburban railway station.

The protesters, led by SFI coordinator Mariappan, gathered near Chennai suburban railway terminus around 11 am and they raised slogans against the CAA and the NRC.

There were about 150 police personnel from Periamet and Flower Bazaar police station, apart from the armed reserve police personnel deployed at the place to control the crowd. Police personnel blocked the agitators by keeping barricades at the entrance close to the suburban railway terminus. The cops apprehended the protesters when they tried to breach the security by marching towards the railway station.

Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (TNCC) president KS Alagiri on Saturday sought to know if the BJP would come forward to explain to the people why it had enacted a legislation on citizenship on religious lines. Appealing to his party cadre to turn up in large numbers for the December 23 (Monday) rally called by the DMK-led Opposition against the Citizenship Amendment Act, Alagiri said the Citizenship Act of 1955 was not enacted on religious lines, but the 2019 Act was. Alleging that a clear bias was shown on selecting religions and countries for the CAA, Alagiri said the Act was against the Constitution and verdicts of the Supreme Court. Claiming that the intelligence report tabled before the Parliamentary Joint Committee had put the number of refugees who had come to India fleeing oppressing in their home countries at 31,313, the TNCC president wondered why was the ruling BJP attempting to divide 130 crore people of the nation on religious basis instead of granting citizenship to the aforesaid number of refugees as per the Citizenship Act in vogue? Opining that the people of the nation want to know the political intention of the BJP, the state Congress chief asked if the BJP would come forward to clarify the people. Referring to the public outrage against the CAA, especially in the national capital where the BJP has closed 19 metro stations to stifle the public offensive against the Act, the TNCC chief remarked that thousands of people have braved the brute force of the fascist BJP regime, including historian Ramachandra Guha, who was arrested for protesting in defiance of the curfew imposed by the government. Alagiri also accused the AIADMK regime in Tamil Nadu of unleashing oppression against the protesters.