TVK senior leader and Minister for Public Works and Sports Development Aadhav Arjuna launched a scathing attack on the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) and the DMK over their stand on the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls on October 10, just hours before the scheduled meeting between Rahul Gandhi and Chief Minister Joseph Vijay in Chennai.
During an interaction with the media, Minister Aadhav Arjuna was asked to comment on the ongoing developments surrounding the CJP protest at Delhi.
Questioning the DMK’s support for the CJP’s position on the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and the SIR exercise, Aadhav Arjuna said the SIR exercise had been undertaken during the DMK’s rule and that the officials responsible for administering it had been hand-picked by the Stalin government. The TVK minister alleged that thousands of young voters had been deleted from the electoral rolls and that, had their names not been removed, TVK could have won 160–170 seats.
Aadhav Arjuna said, “The other day there was a criticism that government officials are only listening to DMK Union Secretaries and DMK Branch Secretaries. Why? Because the voter list is going to them only. Who appoints people in the Revenue Department to the 234 constituencies? It was MK Stalin’s government. When you were the CM, you brought the SIR, with the officers you appointed and removed the 1 crore people, to claim that you lost due to SIR is a big propaganda.”
Earlier, on October 6, actor Prakash Raj had asked, “Why are you refusing to hold press meets? Why are you disrespecting and demeaning the press? Elected leaders, whether a Chief Minister or the Prime Minister, are duty-bound to answer questions posed by the media on behalf of the public.”
In an oblique reference to Prakash Raj, the TVK minister said, “Intellectuals are coming from another town and speaking. Stupid fellows. Who is the ruling party? Don’t they know politics? Stupid fellows. They should not come to Tamil Nadu and do foolish politics. They should do that in Delhi.”
Taking the DMK to task, Aadhav Arjuna said, “You were the ruling party, DMK. That DMK which knows each and every house in every street, which caste, which religion they belong. They have been doing for the past 75 years. So if 1 crore people have been removed, were they removed without the knowledge of these district secretaries, Union Secretaries, Branch secretaries? We protested. They had removed Gen Z kids in that 1 crore deletions. We protested that we don’t want SIR. If there was no SIR, TVK would have won 160–170 seats in Tamil Nadu. DMK removed all the youth.”
He further said, “Why did they remove them? DMK also conspired to remove all those who were under the age of 30 and the government officials also played a part in it. Who appointed all of them?”
One netizen said, “CM Vijay has always spoken against Vote Chori & SIR problem. He quoted Rahul Gandhi when speaking about Vote Chori!”
Critics have questioned Prakash Raj’s role in the Cauvery water issue and asked whether he supports Tamil Nadu’s position. They have also asked what he was doing during the last five years of the DMK regime. They alleged that he was merely an actor who had now lost his market and wanted to gain earnings and fame through politics.
Another TVK leader and Law Minister, CTR Nirmal Kumar, told the media in Madurai on October 10, “You can’t blindly support a protest carried out by shady movements because you never know what their agenda is or who is operating them from behind.”
He also said, “We can’t support some US-funded random group. Delhi protest is being done by some individuals with the backing of some. We don’t know them.”
He further added, “Either Stalin or his son Udhaya Nidhi, during their five years’ rule, ever spoke against PM Modi or the BJP? They had attacked only the Governor. But we, in our first conference itself, had declared that ‘BJP is our ideological enemy’.”
He also said that the DMK had no right to question what the TVK government should or should not do, or to question the Chief Minister. He said TVK had been opposing the SIR exercise. There was no bar on protests, but permission had to be obtained. If protesters violated the rules, whoever they might be, they would be arrested, he said, adding that it was the duty of the police. He also said the police would take the same action even if TVK held a meeting.
Another netizen said, “Protesters arrested at Delhi and DMK Stalin condemning TVK govt in Tamil Nadu.”
DMK president MK Stalin said, “Union BJP government had detained former CM Pinarai Vijayan, Arvind Kejriwal, Mamta Bannerjee and Manik Sarkar along with CPM general secretary MA Baby and leaders of various student organisations who were fighting to protect the people’s right to vote, while CEC Gyanesh Kumar who should be facing for ‘his act of treason’ was roaming freely with Z+ security.”
In Chennai, the police arrested DMK supporters for protesting without permission.
One netizen claimed that those who protested in Chennai’s Besant Nagar were not CJP members. According to the netizen, they were the people who had sought permission to protest on October 2 and had been granted permission to hold their protest on October 10. Their protest ended peacefully. The netizen claimed that those who protested while identifying themselves as CJP members had not taken part in the October 2 agitation.
The police bundled out students who protested on Sivananda Salai in Chennai. A netizen said, “Everyone is backed by DMK goons. Put them in jail, show them no mercy.”
Congress, VCK and Left parties also held protests in Tamil Nadu.
Incidentally, during the CJP’s maiden protest in June, the organisation had slammed the Centre over the police crackdown on students and opposition leaders protesting against the NEET paper leak in Delhi. It had said, “The first voice of opposition to NEET echoed from Tamil Nadu, and today, that echo has resonated across the entire nation.”
However, the latest protest called for the resignation of the CEC, and one of its demands was the cancellation of all Assembly elections held during the last two years. Such a demand would affect TVK, which won the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections in May. Aadhav Arjuna has now turned his criticism towards the CJP.
The CJP in Tamil Nadu appears to be heading towards a split even before it can establish itself. A group of CJP members has questioned the current leadership under Abjith over why coordinators have not been appointed in the states, the criteria used for appointments, and the roles and responsibilities of such coordinators. They have also asked what fieldwork would be assigned to them and what the organisation’s position was on women’s issues. They questioned the purpose of the posts if their holders had no power to raise questions, and sought clarification on the criteria used to appoint convenors in Tamil Nadu.
Rahul Gandhi, while interacting with students in Chennai, targeted the Central government and the Election Commission with allegations of vote theft and suppression of democracy, without presenting evidence during the interaction to substantiate his claims. He also accused the BJP-led government of undermining Tamil Nadu’s interests over NEET, language policy, education funding and delimitation, while urging students to question those in power.
