CHENNAI: DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi on Sunday placed the entire blame for the party’s disastrous performance in the Lok Sabha elections on the media. Not long after, supporters of party heir apparent M K Stalin unleashed an attack on media persons outside their leader’s house, injuring at least one reporter and two camera persons, and damaging equipment.
Close to 5 pm, Stalin supporters first descended on Times Now reporter Shabbir Ahmed and senior camera person Jayaprakash, after they overheard the reporter speaking of the drama surrounding Stalin’s offer to resign from party posts over the poll debacle. They also turned their wrath on Headlines Today camera person Daniel, who had turned his camera around to record the violence unleashed on the Times Now crew.
This quickly descended into an all-out attack on the entire media contingent gathered there, with Puthiya Thalaimurai reporter Karthikeyan becoming the next victim. Former Chennai Mayor M Subramanian reportedly intervened to pull Shabbir and some others out of the danger zone.
When the TV crew started fleeing the spot, DMK cadre followed them in around four vehicles sporting the party flag. They cornered some of the TV crew and confronted them in front of the Times Now office on Chamiers Road in Nandanam. By this time, reporters had spoken to high-ranking police officials who moved a police contingent to Chamiers Road.
Journalists from across the media fraternity then gathered at the Commissioner’s Office and filed a complaint. The Chennai city police took cognizance of it and registered a case under IPC sections 147, 341, 323, 294d, 506 and Section 3 of the Tamil Nadu Property (Prevention of Damage and Loss) Act, 1992.
Meanwhile, the party attempted to wash its hands off the while affair. In an extremely evasive fashion, the DMK attempted to disavow all possible responsibility for the attack. A statement sent by the party’s organising secretary T K S Elangovan, said that a clash between party workers and mediapersons began only because they felt that “a few reporters were airing incorrect views and thoughts about Stalin’s resignation”.
In a bizarre twist, Elangovan added that he suspected the hand of unseen “evil forces” within the crowd, who could have escalated the situation and added to the confusion. Without proferring any hint of an apology, Elangovan’s statement concluded by saying that he was “saddened” by the whole affair. While Stalin himself abstained from making an appearance after the event, he tweeted the summary of the statement, “My sympathy for press reporters facing unpleasant events from external elements who were present in the crowd outside my house.”