DMK president and Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on Sunday rebutted former Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami’s claims that law and order was better during the erstwhile AIADMK regime and listed various crimes that occurred then.
When law and order was poor during Mr. Palaniswami’s rule, the AIADMK leader appeared to have conveniently hidden the facts for the sake of enticing the voters, Mr. Stalin charged during a virtual campaign for the urban civic polls.
He canvassed votes for the DMK and its allies in the Dindigul Corporation, Municipality and Town Panchayat for various councillor posts and accused Mr. Palaniswami of having mastered the art of telling lies.
“When the whole world was shocked to see Tamil Nadu in a shambles during the [erstwhile] AIADMK rule, it would not be correct to tell that the State was in safe hands then,” he said.
To substantiate his charge, Mr Stalin listed, among other things, the custodial torture and murder of trader Jayaraj and his son Benicks in Sattankulam police station in Thoothukudi; the police firing on anti-Sterlite protesters that claimed 13 lives; the murder of SSI Wilson in Kanniyakumari while on duty at a check post; the Pollachi sexual abuse case, the sexual harassment charge raised by two senior women IPS officers; the raids and searches conducted at the office of the Chief Secretary in Fort St. George by Central agencies and other incidents that occurred during the AIADMK regime.
“If Mr Palaniswami had decided to forget or bury [these incidents] for the time being, the people may not have forgotten,” the DMK leader said.
The DMK government after coming to power in May 2021, had brought down the price of milk by ₹3 per litre, provided free transport to women in buses, waived loans to the tune of ₹2,000 crore and more for the Self-Help Groups in Tamil Nadu and so on. On charges of shoddy work during the AIADMK regime, Mr. Stalin claimed that in Dindigul the then ministers had done nothing.
The Balakrishnapuram bridge work remained incomplete even after seven years. The DMK government, he said, had already prepared a detailed analysis of the works to be done for the district, which will soon be given a new shapeand ultimately a guarantee improvement in the standards of living.
He brushed aside the remarks made by the AIADMK leaders of him not visiting the people in-person for the electioneering and said when the COVID-19 pandemic is still around, “as a responsible citizen”, he had decided to address the people online. “If I had come in person, the same opponents may have criticised that I am irresponsible and had neglected the COVID-19 safety norms,” he said and assured the people of visiting Dindigul “to celebrate the victory” soon.
The party screened the DMK leader’s speech at various places across the district in which ministers I Periasami and R Sakkarapani, MLAs Senthil Kumar and Gandhirajan and MPs Velusami and Jothimani [Congress] participated.
