Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami blamed various Islamist organizations for the riot like situation prevailing in some parts of the State and complimented the Police for showing restraint despite severe provocation from trouble makers.
Making a statement in the Assembly on Monday, Palaniswami said that there were no untoward incidents anywhere in the State despite the demonstrators staging rallies without permission from the police. “Many policemen including officers were grievously injured in the stone pelting by demonstrators when they were asked to disperse from the venue of protest.
The Social Democratic Party of India, Popular Front of India, Towheed Jamaath and some Islamic political parties were hand in glove with the trouble makers.
Many policemen injured in stone pelting have been admitted to various government hospitals in the city,” said the Chief Minister.
He said though nearly 100 trouble makers who went on a rampage were taken into custody by the police and put in various marriage halls in Chennai, all of them were released after filing charges against them.
“A fake news spread by the forces behind the agitation that an old man died in the police action aggravated the situation. It was found that the old man who was ailing for some time breathed his last at his house which is far away from the spot. Nobody has been injured in the lathi-charge by police,” said Palaniswami.
He disclosed that all those who fomented trouble in front of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant against the commissioning of the plant and who led the sit in at Marina Beach in early 2017 against the Supreme Court ban on Jallikattu were seen participating in the demonstrations at Chennai.
“Right now, a sit in is going on at the Washermenpet street with 150 persons shouting slogans against CAA. We have deployed sufficient police force to prevent the situation from going out of control,” the chief minister announced.
The DMK and other opposition parties led by M K Stalin staged a walk out claiming that they were not content with the statement made by the Chief Minister.
“We want Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly to pass a resolution asking the Centre to negate the CAA. Nothing less that that would make us happy,” he told reporters outside the assembly.
This is the first time the Tamil Nadu Government named the Islamist organisations and their role in the anti-CAA agitations across the State. Sunday night saw the Chief Minister holding a high level meeting which was attended among others by the Chief Secretary, Home Secretary, State Police Chief and heads of various intelligence wings.
“The Government has clear picture and evidence about the role of various political organisations in the demonstrations being held in the State .
We will come out with more details in the days to come,” said a senior source in Fort Saint George (Tamil Nadu Government’s seat of power, the secretariat).
The Washermenpet sit in on Monday witnessed a novel protest by the Islamists as they held a marriage in the venue and offered sumptuous lunch to those who staged the rally.
It may be remembered that Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, had told the Kerala Legislative Assembly that extremist organizations like PFI and SDPI had infiltrated into the anti-CAA agitations staged in the State under directions from religious clergy and the Mahuls.
Since then, the anti-CAA agitations promoted by the CPI(M) has come to an end in Kerala.