CHENNAI: Leaders of opposition parties, including the DMK, AIADMK, PMK, CPI, DMDK and NTK, on Tuesday condemned the arrest of Naam Tamilar Katchi’s Dharapuram bypoll candidate M Karthika and several party colleagues in connection with election-related complaints, and demanded their immediate release.
NTK leader Seeman, in a statement, alleged that the arrests were politically motivated and called them the “height of fascism”. He accused Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay of failing to maintain law and order and public peace in Tamil Nadu, while using the police for political vendetta. Demanding the immediate release of his party functionaries, Seeman warned the government of consequences if it failed to act.
Meanwhile, DMK president M K Stalin said that when Karthika had criticised the DMK and its ideological leaders in the past, the party responded by defending its position on ideological grounds rather than attempting to silence women leaders by putting them behind bars.
Stalin warned that police officers making arrests in cases dealing with bailable offences could face the courts’ censure. He urged police personnel not to become accomplices in what he described as the TVK’s political vendetta.
The AIADMK, in a social media post, described Karthika’s arrest as high-handedness by the TVK government. CPI state secretary M Veerapandian also condemned the arrests. DMDK general secretary Premalatha Vijayakanth said Karthika was arrested without being allowed to change out of her nightdress, adding that such an arrest would set a wrong precedent.
AMMK general secretary T T V Dhinakaran urged the CM to stop using the police, whose responsibility is to uphold the rule of law, to serve the interests of the ruling party.