DMK legislators suspended from Tamilnadu assembly

Chennai: MK Stalin, the leader of the main opposition party in Tamil Nadu, was carried out by guards or marshalls from the state legislature today, action that his party described as comparable to the Emergency of the 70s when all democratic rights were crushed by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

According to a report of The Hindu newspaper that the expulsion took place after a commotion over a mocking remark made by an AIADMK legislator on MK Stalin’s Nammaku Naame road show. DMK Deputy Leader Durai Murugan said Namakku Naame was an initiative of Stalin and therefore the remarks refer only to him and sought their expunction.

Gunasekaran’s remarks triggered an uproar with DMK MLAs requesting speaker P. Dhanapal to expunge the remarks.

The Tamil Nadu speaker suspended all DMK MLAs for a week from the Assembly for continuous disruption of proceedings.

At this juncture, Stalin entered the House and pacified the DMK members, stating that a debate on his Namakku Namey tour would be indeed an honour for the DMK.

However, the Speaker said the AIADMK member did not mention any names and so declined to expunge the remarks.

However, within a minute, the Speaker announced that Stalin’s remark on Jaya would be expunged. But the MLAs refused to move even after the order, and the House marshals had to physically evict many of them, including Stalin.

With Speaker P Dhanapal refusing permission, DMK members staged a walkout from the House.

When DMK MLAs began raising slogans and started marching towards the well of the House, the speaker ordered mass eviction of all protesting members.

Following their eviction, Finance Minister and leader of the House O Panneerselvam moved a resolution seeking the suspension of all DMK legislators, alleging that they were disrupting the proceedings. DMK has 89 members in the AIADMK-dominated 234-member assembly.