Accusing Governor Banwarilal Purohit of working as an agent of the Centre and acting against the State’s autonomy, DMK working president M.K. Stalin on Saturday demanded his resignation.
Mr. Stalin, who led a flash protest condemning the arrest of DMK cadre in Namakkal for holding a black flag stir against the Governor, told mediapersons that his party had been holding such protests wherever the Governor went on the pretext of reviewing administrative work. “But he refuses to pay any attention [to us] and continues to make the same mistake. So far, there have been no arrests [here]. But in Namakal, DMK cadre were arrested and sent to judicial custody,” said Mr. Stalin, who was subsequently arrested along with DMK MLAs and senior party leaders a few yards away from the Raj Bhavan’s entrance. The flash protest threw traffic out of gear on Sardar Patel Road, Velachery High Road, Gandhi Mandapam Road and Rajiv Gandhi Salai. The protesters were lodged in the YMCA and later released.
Condemning the Governor’s attitude, Mr. Stalin said, “So far, we have tolerated his actions. Today, we [have] organised the protest to convey the message that we can’t tolerate him any longer. This is why we sought to lay siege [to] the Raj Bhavan.”
Noting that black flag protests were part of democracy and that the DMK had shown black flags to former Prime Minsters Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi, he said Prime Minister Narendra Modi was forced to take the aerial route instead of the road during his recent visit to Chennai in order to avoid such protests.
Hits out at CM, OPS
When his attention was drawn to BJP State president Tamilisai Soundararajan’s claim that he had organised the protest “just for the sake of it”, since the State government had not expressed any displeasure over the Governor’s actions, he said both the Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam had totally surrendered themselves to the BJP. “They are afraid of facing income tax raids and cases by the CBI. They lack the courage to stand up to the Central government,” he said.
Addressing protesters earlier, the DMK leader said the party would continue to organise protests against the Governor if he tried to run the State administration through backdoor tactics.