DMK sacks men after Amma Canteen vandalism in Chennai

CHENNAI: Video of a few men clad in DMK flag shawls vandalising an Amma Canteen at Mogappair went viral on Tuesday morning. Hours later, Saidapet MLA Ma Subramanian tweeted that DMK president MK Stalin has expelled the accused persons from the party and DMK cadre in Saidapet constituency restored arrangements at the canteen.  

The accused identified as Navasundar and Surendar were booked under Sections 294 (obscene language), 427 (mischief causing damage to the amount of `50) and 448 (trespassing) of the IPC and later released on station bail. The accused broke the name board and threw vegetables on the ground.

The video was initially posted by the official twitter handle of AIADMK on Tuesday morning. As the news spread, around 50 people gathered there and raised slogans demanding action against the miscreants. The JJ Nagar police rushed to the spot and inspected the canteen. 

The 22-second video shows a man in a yellow shirt damaging the entrance board at the Amma Unavagam in Mogappair West, while another man in white shirt and DMK shawl shouting ‘no more amma unavagam’. Further, another person takes out some boards from inside the canteen and violently brakes them. 

Reacting to the incident, AIADMK leaders Edappadi K Palaniswami and O Panneerselvam urged Stalin to initiate action against the perpetrators. “The canteen initiative was brought by J Jayalalithaa for the benefit of poor and common people. Be it rains, floods, or pandemic, the canteens have satiated the hunger of people,” said a joint statement said, equating the incident to an attack on the poor.