CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin on Thursday slammed the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for 18 hours of interrogation about a complaint given 10 years ago and the arrest of his cabinet colleague V Senthil Balaji. He alleged that the DMK leader was subject to "mental pressure" and subsequently suffered a health issue.
In a video that runs for around 11 minutes, Stalin also warned BJP, saying, “Don’t provoke DMK or its cadres. If you do so, you can’t withstand the repercussions. It is not a threat but a warning.”
The DMK chief charged that BJP never engaged in politics by facing the people but it always faced the political opponents through central agencies like the Income Tax Department, the Enforcement Directorate and the CBI. Stalin also said that the BJP which is ruling the union should function with responsibility. "At least from now on, the BJP should stop its autocratic activities," he added.
“You know well about the troubles being exerted on Senthil Balaji through Enforcement Directorate. No one has an iota of doubt that this is a blatant political vendetta. The ED interrogated Senthil Balaji for 18 hours about a complaint lodged 10 years ago. Senthil Balaji was subjected to mental and physical pressure which weakened him on both counts and that ended up causing cardiac ailment to him. Can there be a more blatant political vendetta?" he asked.
The chief minister said if there is a court order against Senthil Balaji, there is nothing wrong with interrogating him. “Balaji is not an ordinary person to hide himself. He has been a people's representative for five years and a second-time minister. He takes part in public functions daily. As such, what is the necessity for locking such a person up for 18 long hours for interrogation and treating him like a terrorist?”
"When the ED officials came, he extended full cooperation to them and said he was ready to give an explanation if any document is found. He was not allowed to meet anyone for 18 hours. Finally, only after he developed chest pain, the ED officials took him to the hospital. Had these ED officials ignored his health condition, he would have ended up in big danger," Stalin added.
"What is the emergency situation that warranted such an interrogation which would cause danger to the life of Balaji? Is the country under undeclared emergency? The ED's action indicates so,” Stalin further added.
“In a nutshell, the BJP leadership is playing its politics through ED because they are not ready to engage in politics by facing the people. People will believe BJP only when they engage in politics for the people. However, BJP's politics remain anti-people. Intimidating those who cannot be faced politically in the electoral field through central agencies has been the only style of the BJP and that party has been adopting this style for the entire country. BJP is dubbing the same script in different states," the DMK chief said and cited examples in Maharashtra, Delhi, Bihar, West Bengal, Telangana and Karnataka.
Stalin also pointed out that before BJP came to power, the ED had conducted only 112 raids across the country between 2004 and 2014. But after the BJP assumed power, over 3,000 raids have been conducted in the places of opposition parties and only in 0.5% of the cases, the offences were proven and the rest of the raids were conducted only for the purpose of intimidating others, he said.
The DMK chief also said his party has certain unique political ideologies and that the party is against communalism, casteism and sanatana dharma.
"Facing these forces in the political field is our style. We are ready to counter views from the other side. But if they try to make us bow down through intimidation, we will not cow down. Instead, we will stand straight and face the threats since the DMK had faced MISA and Hindi imposition," he said.