Friday, Apr 11, 2003
Friday, Apr 11, 2003 |
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Tamil Nadu
By Our Special Correspondent
In a fierce echo of the mid-night arrest of six DMK MLAs including M.K. Stalin, the Assembly was rocked by unprecedented pandemonium, protests, sloganeering and first-ever mass eviction of Opposition members. The political drama unfolded with a 12-minute ruckus by the Opposition inside the Assembly and was quickly followed by a 10-minute, noisy sit-in protest in the lobby, a five-minute lying-down stir by a few members in the corridor outside the House and a 10 minute-dharna on the middle of Rajaji Salai. The protests in the forenoon culminated in the arrest of the 43 MLAs from the outgate of the Secretariat and their detention in the nearby North Beach police station, from where they were let off at 1 p.m.
Karunanidhi visits police station
The day of fast-paced politicial activity, which brought the secular Opposition parties closer than ever before, also saw the arrival of the DMK president, M. Karunanidhi, at the police station to express his solidarity and thanks to the MLAs, who had put up a united protest against the arrest of DMK legislators. In the Assembly, the Opposition bared its confrontationist mood immediately after the House met at 10 a.m., disrupting the question hour and vociferously demanding that the Speaker, K. Kalimuthu, adjourn the proceedings, to debate the arrest of the DMK MLAs, the one-day strike by government employees and the issue of demolition of the Queen Mary's College here. In the absence of the DMK, which is boycotting the on-going budget session, the Congress legislature party leader, S.R. Balasubramaniam, led the Opposition charge, fiercely arguing with the Speaker to adjourn the question time and allow a debate on issues of "survival" of the government employees and deprivation of the rights of MLAs.
Speaker rejects plea
But, the Speaker firmly ruled that the question time could be a adjourned only after a unanimous resolution was adopted the previous day, and asked the HR and CE Minister, P.C. Ramasamy, to reply to the first query of the day. With the high-pitched reply by the Minister in the background, Mr. Balasubramaniam sparred with the Speaker and all Congress MLAs rose to launch into full-throated slogan shouting. "Don't file false cases against the Opposition, drop vindictive action, don't deprive government staff of their pension benefits," they screamed, plunging the House into bedlam. And, soon CPI and CPI(M) members also joined the sloganeering. The Speaker's warning to the Opposition MLAs to behave with dignity and not to reduce the House to a roadside public meeting went unheeded. And, the Opposition MLAs only hit a higher decibel of slogan-shouting. Mr. Balasubramaniam too vociferously continued to press for a debate, heatedly asking, "If you don't drop the question hour to discuss the vital issues, what else will the House discuss." Rising from his chair, Mr. Kalimuthu reprimanded the sloganeering MLAs and told the Opposition leaders that the discussion could be taken up after question hour. As the Opposition defiantly continued the protest, the Speaker directed the Leader of the House, C. Ponnaiyan, to move a resolution evicting them. Instantly, Mr. Ponnaiyan charged that the Opposition members had come with a "deliberate, politically motivated plan to disrupt the proceedings and create a fracas" The MLAs behaving in an irresponsible manner should be evicted, he said, amid loud "ayes" from the Treasury Benches and louder protests from the Opposition. In a few seconds, the watch and ward staff swooped on the Opposition MLAs, most of whom walked out without much resistance. But C. Gnanasekaran (Congress), who spread out on the seat, was bodily lifted out.
Protests outside House
Scene-II of the protest was staged in the Assembly lobby, where the Opposition leaders, especially, Mr. Balasubramanaim, perched on the seats, held a mini-media conference, condemning the AIADMK Government's "repression and trampling of democracy". The junior MLAs squatted on the floor and continued to shout slogans. The watch and ward staff shoved out most of the MLAs and bodily carried a few defiant members out. In scene-III on the corridors, the irrepressible Mr. Gnanasekaran and the CPI (M)'s Mahendran, lay down, shouting slogans for five minutes. The security personnel cleared them out, but 15 minutes later, after brief confabulations in Mr. Balasubramaniam's chambers, the Opposition MLAs were on the streets for the final scene on Rajaji Salai. After a brief slogan-shouting session, they were whisked away to the police station. But the MLAs refused to go in a "dog van" and an MTC van was brought in to drive them away. The drama then shifted to the police station. All through the Opposition protest, the BJP, an official ally of the DMK, remained a passive spectator.
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