Southern States - Tamil Nadu

AIADMK, DMK clash in RS

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI MAY 2 . The AIADMK and the DMK clashed in the Rajya Sabha during the discussion on Gujarat under Rule 170 over the manner in which the NDA Government at the Centre handled the situation following the arrest of the former Chief Minister, M. Karunanidhi, by the Tamil Nadu Government last June.

While declaring that his party would abstain from voting as it had in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, the AIADMK member, V. Maitreyan, wondered if the Centre would have adopted the same "rigid approach'' with regard to the resignation of the Gujarat Chief Minister, Narendra Modi, had it been a non-BJP ruled State. His charge was that different standards were being applied to States ruled by BJP and its allies, and others.

Dr. Maitreyan said the Centre had sent a team of politicians led by George Fernandes to Tamil Nadu following the arrest of the former Chief Minister last year, sought a report from the then Governor and then, on the NDA not being satisfied with the report, recalled the Governor. He wanted to know if any of this was done in Gujarat. Describing the Gujarat carnage as "a national shame and an international disgrace'', he said the Centre knew what do in Gujarat. What was needed was political will.

When the DMK member, C.P. Thiranavukkarasu, justified the Centre's intervention on their leader's arrest last year and described the incident as a "black mark in history'' just as the events in Gujarat were, the AIADMK members were on their feet. Much of what he said was lost in the din that followed.

In the context of Gujarat, the DMK member emphasised that politics and religion should not be mixed. The immediate task in Gujarat was to restore normality and to punish the perpetrators of violence. "There should not be any fascism, only then can we face the challenge of poverty and hunger.''

He said the Godhra incident was condemnable, but how could one talk of the Newton's law of action and reaction.

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