Release DMK leaders at once: NDA

By Neena Vyas

NEW DELHI, JUNE 30. The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) which discussed today the arrest the former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, Mr. M. Karunanidhi, two Union Ministers and other DMK leaders, made the unprecedented demand of ``the immediate release of Mr. Karunanidhi, Mr. Maran, Mr. Baalu and Mr. Stalin''. In fact, during the two-hour emergency meeting, the NDA appealed to all political parties to join in this demand.

The Law Minister, Mr. Arun Jaitley, while briefing the press after the meet, dodged a question on whether under the law, the Prime Minister, a Minister or even the entire Cabinet could demand the release of an arrested person, even if it was effected illegally, or was this a matter to be decided by the courts. ``We have to consider the circumstances of the arrests,'' he said, pointing to earlier assaults on the media and the freedom of press through a directive to a television channel not to broadcast the footage of the arrests. (The reference was to a directive apparently given by the Tamil Nadu Government to Sun TV.)

Mr. Vajpayee also directed that a Home Ministry team be immediately dispatched to Tamil Nadu to ``independently submit a report to the Government''. An NDA team, consisting of its convener, Mr. George Fernandes, Mr. S.S. Dhindsa and Mr. Vijay Kumar Malhotra, is also leaving for Chennai tomorrow morning, where Mr. Fernandes said it would meet the arrested leaders, but had ``no plan'' to meet the Chief Minister.

Earlier in the day, there were clear indications from the Home Ministry that the Centre could do nothing much to interfere. In fact, the earlier plan was to make a noise and create public opinion against what has been described by most parties as a display of ``personal vendetta'' by the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, Ms. Jayalalithaa.

In the morning, the Centre's view became clear when Mr. Jaitley said ``private agenda has prevailed over the rule of law.'' At that time, he indicated that the Centre was trying to collect the details, but certainly ``television visuals'' of the arrests were ``disturbing.'' Mr. Venkaiah Naidu, Union Minister for Rural Development, described the events as ``atrocious, barbaric and against democratic norms''.

But by evening, Mr. Fernandes said, ``no chargesheet was filed (against the arrested leaders), no FIR was lodged, no reference was made to the Prime Minister on the arrest of the two Union Ministers, and, therefore, no further proof of the illegality of the entire action was required by the NDA to demand the release of the arrested persons.''

It has become clear that police behaviour at the time of the arrests has given the NDA a good handle to beat its one time friend-turned-enemy, AIADMK. Privately, senior leaders admitted that the Centre could not have taken a tough posture if the DMK leaders had been arrested quietly on charges of corruption in the so-called ``flyover scam''.

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