Tamil Nadu chief minister C Joseph Vijay “should not speak about pointless controversies within the Meeting,” DMK president MK Stalin mentioned on Thursday. Stalin hit again at Vijay over his latest Meeting remarks on the Emergency-era Upkeep of Inner Safety Act (MISA). He recounted his 1976 arrest and alleged custodial torture throughout the Emergency.
Addressing Vijay as “Thambi Vijay”, Stalin mentioned his Emergency-era wrestle was a part of the DMK’s historical past. “Historical past can by no means be modified,” the previous Tamil Nadu chief minister mentioned. He additionally requested those that doubted his account to test the paperwork out there within the Meeting library.
“You [CM Vijay] turned the Meeting itself into a spot the place reels occur, standing on the bridge we constructed and doing photoshoots, you might be operating the administration additionally, identical to a cinema taking pictures. To cover your inefficient administration, you might be posting varied reels like this and dishonest a complete era,” Stalin mentioned in a video on X.
Stalin’s remarks got here two days after Vijay clarified {that a} hand gesture he made whereas referring to MISA in the Assembly was “not in any way intentional”. The gesture, during which Vijay positioned his hand close to his jaw, was extensively interpreted as a reference to Stalin’s jaw damage throughout his detention in 1976.
‘Police got here to arrest me’
Stalin mentioned that after the DMK organised a significant gathering at Marina Seashore in 1976 to oppose the Emergency and criticise MISA. He recalled that police reached the Karunanidhi residence in Gopalapuram instantly after the dismissal to arrest him beneath MISA. Stalin mentioned he was away campaigning on the time.
“The Union Authorities that was in energy at the moment, on thirty first January 1976, dismissed the DMK authorities. The very subsequent second after dismissing the federal government, police got here to the Gopalapuram home to arrest me beneath the MISA Act,” he mentioned in his video.
Based on Stalin, Karunanidhi instructed the police that his son had gone campaigning and would return the subsequent day. He then requested them to return again when Stalin returned.
“Once I got here, he himself referred to as the police and requested them to arrest me,” Stalin mentioned, recounting the incident.
Stalin was subsequently detained beneath MISA. His imprisonment throughout the Emergency has lengthy been cited as a significant episode in his political profession. A number of senior DMK leaders, together with Stalin, Murasoli Maran and Chitti Babu, had been reportedly detained and allegedly subjected to custodial violence.
Stalin recounts jail assault
Stalin additionally described the situations he mentioned he confronted in jail. Detainees had been saved in a particularly unhygienic room and subjected to repeated beatings by police and different prisoners, he mentioned.
He mentioned he suffered accidents to his jaw and nonetheless carried scars from the alleged assaults.
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Stalin additionally spoke of the demise of DMK chief and former Madras mayor Chitti Babu. He died after being brutally crushed in jail, the ex-CM mentioned. Stalin has beforehand described Chitti Babu as having borne blows meant for him throughout his incarceration.
“Attributable to their beating, my expensive brother, Member of Parliament Chitti Babu, died contained in the jail itself. Attributable to their beating, my jawbone was damaged. You additionally confirmed it like this, protecting your hand close to the jaw, proper? That’s right. Even right this moment, I’ve the scars of the beatings I acquired. I’m not saying no,” Stalin mentioned.