DMK stages sit-in over Vijay’s MISA remarks, Speaker orders marshals to remove MLAs

Chennai: Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) on Tuesday staged a sit-in protest outside the Speaker's chamber in the Tamil Nadu Assembly, objecting to Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay's remarks on the Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA), following which the Speaker ordered marshals to evacuate DMK legislators from the House.

DMK MLA EV Velu objected to the Chief Minister's remarks, alleging that reading out vigilance cases under investigation violated the tradition of the Assembly. Velu was allowed to speak by the Speaker amid the ruckus.

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"Reading out cases is an act that violates tradition. Yesterday the Chief Minister had spoken about MISA and the Sarkaria Commission. Reading out Vigilance cases during the Chief Minister's reply is a violation of tradition. Comments cannot be made on cases that are under investigation," Velu said.

Speaker JCD Prabhakar rejected the DMK's demand to expunge Vijay's remarks on MISA from the Assembly proceedings.

"The DMK wasn't ready to listen for even a minute to CM Vijay's speech yesterday. CM Vijay mentioned things that were already mentioned in the House regarding the MISA Act. So there is no need to expunge the CM's speech on the MISA Act," the Speaker said.

Speaking to the media DMK Whip E.V. Velu said, "What we asked for is an answer on the current worsening law and order situation in Tamil Nadu, but the CM diverted the issue and spoke about the MISA Act. The Sarkaria Commission didn't prove anyone guilty, hence we asked the Speaker to expunge those portions, but the Speaker refused to do it. The Speaker has forcefully evacuated us from the House for raising a fair demand. It is the height of an undemocratic government and an undemocratic act. The DMK government ran a real government, but TVK is running a reel government."

The confrontation came a day after heated exchanges between the ruling party and the Opposition during Assembly proceedings.

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On Monday, the DMK staged a walkout after Leader of Opposition Udhayanidhi Stalin was not allowed to immediately respond to allegations made by Vijay against the previous DMK government.

During his speech, Vijay referred to Enforcement Directorate material, the Sarkaria Commission and alleged irregularities and corruption during previous DMK regimes. He also spoke about police vacancies, modernisation, digitalisation, crime prevention and reducing political interference in policing.

The DMK has rejected the allegations and questioned their evidentiary basis.

PWD Minister Aadhav Arjuna on Tuesday accused the DMK of repeatedly disrupting proceedings whenever he attempted to speak.

"DMK is afraid of me. Whenever I rise to speak on the floor of the House, they stand and oppose with the intention of stopping me from speaking. The problem with DMK is they want the ruling party to listen to them, but they don't want to listen," Arjuna said.