CHENNAI: Any decision pertaining to any State should be taken only after taking the people of the State into confidence, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said in Chennai on Wednesday. The TMC supremo was speaking at a public meeting marking the first death anniversary of late DMK chief M Karunanidhi when she made the oblique reference to the BJP-led Union government’s moves on Jammu & Kashmir.

Hailing Karunanidhi, Banerjee said, “He had a history of fighting for state autonomy and protection of  federal structure.” She expressed concern over the whereabouts of former J&K CM Farooq Abdullah who had been invited to the event. She urged people to prepare to protect their motherland and mother tongue as that was their identity.

Karunanidhi’s son and DMK chief MK Stalin reiterated the party’s opposition to abrogation of Article 370, noting that Abdullah was under house arrest and former J&K CMs Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti were in custody. “None needs to give the DMK lessons in patriotism,” he said. “DMK will always oppose BJP’s efforts to spread communal hate in the name of nationalism.”