The former Union Minister of Health and PMK youth wing leader Anbumani Ramadoss was arrested by Chennai Police on Friday morning from his palatial house in the upmarket T Nagar area. Anbumani, son of the PMK founder S Ramadoss, was arrested in connection with a hate speech he made last year at a youth wing meeting at Mahabalipuram. He has been remanded to judicial custody till May 14.
S Ramadoss was arrested on Tuesday for staging a demonstration at Villupuram violating a ban order. The PMK founder has been remanded for 15 days and has been sent to Trichy Central Prison where he spends time reading ‘Gandhian Thoughts’.
By noon, Ramadoss and others who were arrested with him were granted bail. But the AIADMK Government had charged two more cases against Ramadoss for violating the norms laid by the police for the PMK public meetings held at Mahabalipuram in 2012 and 2013 on Thursday night. This means the PMK founder would be able to read the complete collection of Gandhian works while in prison itself.
Anbumani said his arrest was an act of vendetta unleashed by the Jayalalithaa Government. “The AIADMK is worried over the growth of the PMK. Jayalalithaa will suffer her biggest defeat in the 2014 lok Sabha elections. She will not get a single seat from Tamil Nadu and Puducherry,” Anbumani told reporters while being led to the police vehicle.
He said his arrest reminded him of the 2001 arrest of DMK chief M Karunanidhi by the then Jayalalithaa Government. Indications are that the PMK would like to cosy up to the DMK before the next lok Sabha elections.
Elsewhere in Tamil Nadu, normal life has come to a standstill following agitation, arson and widespread vandalism by the PMK activists. Many buses belonging to the State Transport Corporation were set on fire by PMK activists. They cut down hundreds of trees from both sides of the national highways in protest against the arrest of Ramadoss and other leaders. The Union Territory of Puducherry observed a dawn-to-dusk bandh called by the PMK cadre demanding the release of all the arrested leaders of the party.
The PMK cadre hurled a bomb on a private bus in Namakkal late on Thursday which resulted in three passengers getting injured. The police nabbed three workers belonging to the PMK who told the police that they only threw the bomb.
Villupuram, a PMK stronghold, saw three persons trying to blow up a small bridge with explosives. “Though the bridge remained safe the road near the bridge developed cracks,” said a police inspector.
A truck ferrying brand new motorcycles from Haryana to the Namakkal showroom was set afire by the PMK activists on Thursday night near Thiruvannamalai. More that 35 two-wheelers were gutted in the incident.
A top police officer said mischief-makers always stay ahead of the police. “It is literally impossible to be everywhere at the same time. The rioters are always on the move and are capable of striking at will at any places,” he said.
With the Agni Nakshathram season (hottest season of the year with mercury crossing the 40-degree celsius mark) setting in on Friday and the PMK activists on the rampage, travellers are advised to keep off from Tamil Nadu for the time being.