PERHAPS no other incident in the recent past has outraged the people of the country as the arrest of former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi. As Sun TV telecast the midnight arrest of the 78-year-old president of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), the images of the police pushing him, roughing him up and bodily lifting him when he fell down shook the people and the political parties alike.
Cutting across alliances, political parties all over the country condemned the arrest, which was carried out with scant regard for human dignity. The statements came from, among others, the leaders of the Congress(I) and the Left parties, the Chief Ministers of Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, Uttaranchal, Orissa, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh, former Prime Ministers V.P. Singh and Chandra Shekhar, former Karnataka Chief Minister Ramakrishna Hegde, Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray, and Justice V.S. Malimath, former member of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC).
K. Madhavan, former Joint Director of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), described the behaviour of the police as "inhuman and sadistic". He said: "I am shocked at the manner in which the police officers behaved... Despite the law that only minimum, necessary force should be used while arresting any person, they (the police) crawled when they had only to bend."
The National Democratic Alliance (NDA), of which the DMK is a constituent, took a serious view of the arrest of Karunanidhi and Union Ministers Murasoli Maran and T.R. Baalu, both belonging to the DMK. Union Law Minister Arun Jaitley said that there was no provocation for the State police to enter Maran's home.
Jana Krishnamurthi, BJP president, criticised the Tamil Nadu government for the "brutality" with which Karunanidhi was arrested. He said the nation was shocked by the manhandling of the DMK leaders. State BJP secretary L. Ganesan called the arrest of Karunanidhi barbaric.
Other allies of the DMK, such as the Dalit Panthers of India, Puthiya Tamizhagam, the MGR-ADMK and the MGR Kazhagam, were equally strong in denouncing the arrest. Dalit Panthers leader R. Tirumavalavan said it would not be improper to impose President's Rule in Tamil Nadu if the situation demanded it. Puthiya Tamizhagam president Dr. K. Krishnaswamy described the arrest as an act of political vendetta.
The DMK's political rivals too condemned the manner of the arrest. Tamil Maanila Congress (TMC) president G.K. Moopanar described it as utterly deplorable. Pattali Makkal Katchi's founder-leader Dr. S. Ramadoss said that the police swooping down on the residence of Karunanidhi and arresting him in disregard of his age and the high office he had occupied was wrong.
E.V.K.S. Ilangovan, president, Tamil Nadu Congress(I) Committee, questioned the need to arrest Karunanidhi in such a hurry at dead of night when it was clear that the former Chief Minister would not run away.
N. Sankaraiah, State secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), said the manner of the arrest and the incidents that followed had created resentment and dissatisfaction among the people. He said: "The CPI(M)'s policy is that when political leaders are arrested and detained in prison, they should be treated with respect and with regard for human rights." Sankaraiah demanded the release of DMK men taken into preventive custody.
R. Nallakannu, secretary of the State Council of the Communist Party of India (CPI), said the manner in which Karunanidhi was taken into custody was wrong. Such actions would only divert the people's attention from important issues such as the water scarcity, he remarked. Nallakannu also demanded that all DMK men taken into preventive custody be released.
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