In stark contrast to the Black Monday, which saw most of the State getting engulfed in a near riot situation, Tuesday remained by and large peaceful as Tamil Nadu limped back to normalcy. The city police arrested 72 persons from different parts of the city foe the untoward incidents on Monday which saw vandals trying to set ablaze the Ice House police Station in the Beach Road. According to sources in the City Police, a total of 142 vehicles, including 52 police vehicles were damaged by the miscreants, who threw petrol bombs and stones at them.
Marina Beach, venue of the sit-in staged by the Jallikkattu crowd is getting spruced up for Thursday’s Republic Day Parade. A heavy posse of police force has been deployed along the beach and entry has been curtailed to ensure a trouble-free parade.
The presence of anti-national forces in the Jallikkaatu demonstration in various places in the State got official confirmation with S George, Chennai City Commissioner of Police acknowledging the same late Monday night. Speaking to journalists, George, who led the police team at Koodankulam in 2013 to fight the anti-nuclear reactor agitation by the People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy, said anti-national elements and forces had hijacked the Jallikkattu agitation. “We tackled only the anti-national and anti-social elements among the demonstrators,” said George.
Meanwhile, one of the supporters of the agitation, blasted the “secrecy” behind the promulgation of ordinance for the pitched battles seen on Monday between the police and the agitators. “No print outs of the ordinance were issued to the students who were demonstrating and this led to them suspecting the intention of the government,” said one of the “interlocutors” representing the agitators.
Tamil Nadu Government has been transparent on this issue from the word go and all actions have been conveyed to the public, through mass media, said one of the ministers. “We have not hidden anything from the general public. The talks we had with the representatives of the demonstrators and the discussion the chief minister had with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other government officials in New Delhi are all in the public domain,” said K Pandiarajan, minister for education who was a member of the crisis team which handled the agitation with élan.