Chennai: Calling the police crackdown on protestors seeking the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar an “undeclared emergency”, DMK president M K Stalin on Saturday declared the demand for the resignation was non-negotiable. “Beyond his resignation, all the damage done to the institutional framework of the Election Commission must be undone, and its independence and integrity restored,” the former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister said in a statement.
Stalin Demands CEC's Resignation
Condemning the detention of of former Chief Ministers Pinarayi Vijayan (Kerala), Aravind Kejriwal (Delhi) and Mamata Banerjee (West Bengal) and other leaders, Stalin said it was a disgrace that those fighting to protect the people’s right to vote were arrested, while the CEC “who should be facing trial for his act of treason, is roaming freely with Z+ security!”
He said the conspiracy behind SIR has been completely exposed and there is no hiding it any more. Barricading Delhi, shutting down the internet and detaining political leaders cannot crush the uprising of India’s youth. “How long can the Union Government keep an entire nation under siege,” he wondered.
Draws Parallel With Emergency
At the same time, Stalin charged that the “Kakistocratic” TVK Government in Tamil Nadu is desperately trying to please its Delhi masters by detaining activists protesting against SIR. He called for the immediate release of those detained.
“The scenes unfolding in Delhi today, and the scale of repression being unleashed against peaceful protesters, bring back painful memories of the Emergency that I lived through,” he said and condemned the TVK Government “for acting as an extension of the BJP and unleashing police repression against protesting students (in Chennai).”
Stalin said, the Union Government must immediately end its assault on the youth who are peacefully exercising their democratic right to protest. “Dissent is not a crime, and democracy cannot survive by silencing those who rise to defend it,” he added.
