Squarely blaming the VCK for the violence that transpired at Marakkanam on April 25, former Union Minister Anbumani Ramadoss, on Wednesday, demanded an independent judicial probe to establish the truth behind the incidents.
He also condemned the arrest of his father and PMK founder S Ramadoss and said the party would face the action through legal channels.
Addressing reporters, Anbumani said his father had been transferred to Tiruchy prison in the early hours of Wednesday after he was arrested in Villupuram on Tuesday. He questioned the necessity of keeping Ramadoss, an aged leader in his seventies, in a marriage hall for 11 hours and then remanding him rather than doing it immediately after detention.
Anbumani claimed that the blame put on the PMK for the attack on Dalits was baseless. The entire violence, including torching of Dalit households, was orchestrated by the VCK and its leader Thol Thirumavalavan.
“They have made this a routine affair. The VCK is heading a campaign encouraging Dalits themselves to do the same (burn houses) at other places,” he charged. Questioning the stand taken by other political parties, Anbumani wondered why they had not expressed the condolences for the death of two PMK workers during the violence.
“Two of our partymen had died. Four have been admitted to JIPMER with injuries. But none seems to care,” he alleged.
The former Union Health Minister said till a judicial probe by a sitting judge of the Madras High Court was ordered, party workers across the State would hoist black flags outside their houses as a mark of protest.