TN CM defends action against Marina agitators
JALLIKATTU PROTEST Panneerselvam says ‘minimum force’ was used to evict protesters as area had to be cleared ahead of RDay
CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu chief minister O Panneerselvam on Friday defended in the state assembly the police action of evicting Jallikattu protesters from Marina beach, saying they used minimum force to ensure that the agitation did not end up disrupting the Republic Day function.
He also claimed that anti-social elements had mingled with the actual protesters (most of them students), and were not allowing them to withdraw the stir after an ordinance to permit the bull-taming sport was promulgated. Anti-national slogans — some of them seditious — were shouted during the agitation, Panneerselvam said, holding up offending posters featuring slain al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden for legislators to see.
Responding to Opposition DMK’s demand for a judicial probe into police high-handedness in ending the agitation, the chief minister said all pieces of videographic evidence in the police’s possession were being investigated.
Panneerselvam claimed antisocial elements burnt down the Ice House police station under the cover of the Jallikattu agitation.
The authorities will take appropriate action against the perpetrators after examining videographic evidence, he added.
The chief minister claimed the Jallikattu ban was implemented in 2011, during the UPA regime of which the DMK was a part.
He also cited sustained efforts on the part of his predecessor, late chief minister J Jayalalithaa, for legalising the sport again.
Panneerselvam’s response, however, failed to satisfy the Opposition.
DMK working president MK Stalin led party members in staging a walkout from the state assembly.
Meanwhile, a Supreme Court bench said it would hear all arguments pertaining to Jallikattu on January 31.