Chennai: Armed with the reports of two inquiry commissions, one on Jayalalithaa's death and the other on Thoothukudi firing, Chief Minister MK Stalin on Tuesday took on the AIADMK, putting EPS in the dock. Squarely blaming EPS for the unprovoked firing on anti-Sterlite protestors, he said it was a pre-planned one and offers enough proof for the authoritarian rule of the previous AIADMK regime.
“It still haunts me. Even now, I shiver with fear whenever thoughts of the gruesome and horrendous event come to my mind. The air was filled with the wailing of the bereaved over the dead when I visited Thoothukudi then as Leader of the Opposition,” the Chief Minister said, speaking on the report of the Aruna Jagadeesan Commission, tabled in the house the other day.
Quoting the report, which had nailed EPS' statement to press persons that like them he too came to know of the police firing only through the media, Stalin remarked, “It reminds one of the old adages: Taking a potion after swallowing a crowbar.” “Is this how a CM, who held the home portfolio, should speak,” he wondered and pointed out that this had created great revulsion among the public then.
“Deposing before the Commission, the then Chief Secretary Girija Vaidhyanathan, then DGP TK Rajendran and the then IG Intelligence, KN Sathyamurthy, have said that the Chief Minister was updated on the happenings minute by minute,” Stalin said adding, the Commission had clearly exposed EPS having willfully denied knowledge about the police firing in which 13 people were killed in cold blood and more than 100 injured.
“The two inquiry commissions were not constituted not by the DMK government, but by the previous AIADMK government. So there can be no room for the conclusions to be portrayed as politically motivated. Having watched and listened to the live telecast of the horrendous event from his room, he had the temerity to say that he was unaware. Those who know the life and political growth of EPS are very much aware of his treachery and blunders. And, I have nothing more to add to that. The electoral rout in the assembly election was the beginning of the punishment that the people of Tamil Nadu have awarded to the AIADMK,” Stalin said adding, “We should not forget that the Thoothukudi firing exemplified that the AIADMK government was a heartless administration.”
On the action taken against those named by the panel, the CM said departmental action has been initiated against the then Thoothukudi district collector and three Revenue Department officials. Similarly, the Home Department has initiated departmental action against the then South Zone IG, Thoothukudi Police Superintendent, a Dy SP, three Inspectors, a Sub Inspector and seven other constables. An Inspector and four constables, who were directly involved in the firing have been placed under suspension. “All these disciplinary proceedings will be completed early and all those found guilty will be brought to book and punished,” he assured the House. He also announced an additionally enhanced solatium of Rs 5 lakh to the victims who lost their lives.
Even as there was a demand in the assembly from the Left and other allies of the DMK, to prosecute EPS, the latter and AIADMK MLAs belonging to his faction attempted to stage a protest against Speaker M Appavu's refusal to strip O Panneerselvam (OPS), heading a rival faction of the AIADMK, from the post of Deputy Leader of Opposition. OPS and three MLAs supporting him have been expelled from the AIADMK. Before his arrest, EPS accused Stalin of trying to prop up OPS to destabilise the principal opposition party. The EPS faction, with 60 legislators, abstained from the proceedings.
On May 22, 2018, anti-Sterlite protestors, pressing for the closure of the copper smelter plant on the ground it was causing pollution in the coastal town, took out a massive rally to the collectorate. When anti-social elements set fire to vehicles inside the collectorate, police opened fire on the unarmed protestors. It resulted in the closure of the plant.
