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Govt. in a fix over Vaiko arrest

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI JULY 17. The Vajpayee Government today found itself in a rather tight corner with the Opposition vehemently criticising the use of POTA (Prevention of Terrorism Act) against the MDMK leader, Vaiko, who is in jail for having made a speech in support of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. The Opposition wanted to know if the Vaiko arrest was legal, then how could the MDMK members be part of the Vajpayee Council of Ministers.

The matter was raised during zero hour by the MDMK member, C. Krishna, who termed the arrest "politically-motivated.'' The Congress and the AIADMK supported the arrest, while the Opposition and sections of the ruling National Democratic Alliance were critical of the Tamil Nadu Government's invocation of the anti-terror law.

The Opposition benches did not miss the chance to point out the irony of Mr. Vaiko's vocal support for the POTA and now the same law being used by the Tamil Nadu Government against him.

The CPI(M) leader, Somnath Chatterjee, wanted to know why the NDA was disapproving of Mr. Vaiko's arrest; if the arrest was warranted under POTA, then there was no justification for Mr. Vaiko's colleagues remaining in the Union Cabinet. During the POTA debate, Mr. Vaiko had gone to the extent of calling the critics of the anti-terror law "anti-national''.

Mr. Chatterjee found an enthusiastic supporter in the Samajwadi Party leader, Mulayam Singh Yadav, who minced no words in asserting that the Jayalalithaa Government was "misusing'' POTA against a political rival.

He reminded the Chief Minister that even so powerful a political leader like Indira Gandhi had to pay a heavy price for invoking Emergency, and that a similar fate awaited Ms. Jayalalithaa.

On the other hand, the Congress member, Mani Shankar Aiyar, stoutly defended the arrest. He pointed out that Mr. Vaiko had attracted the provisions of POTA when he addressed a public meeting in support of the LTTE, an organisation banned under POTA. He asserted that a statute could not be amended just to save a parliamentarian.

Predictably, a strong defence of the Tamil Nadu Government was put up by the AIADMK leader, P.H. Pandian, who justified the arrest in terms of Section 21(3) of POTA, and argued that no one could be deemed to be above the law. "It is for the courts to decide the case and a trial cannot be carried out by the House.''

The NDA allies such as the DMK and the Telugu Desam Party lamented that a law which was meant to be used against terrorists was now being invoked against political rivals. There was no statement from the Government side, but the Opposition did have the satisfaction of pointing out to the treasury benches the folly of ignoring its warnings against possible misuse of POTA.

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