The Hindu : Evictions were as per House norms: Kalimuthu

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Apr 14, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Tamil Nadu

Evictions were as per House norms: Kalimuthu

By Our Staff Reporter

MADURAI APRIL 13. The Assembly Speaker, K. Kalimuthu, today defended the eviction of "unruly" members from the House, but asserted that democracy was not at peril.

Charging the opposition members, especially DMK and the Congress MLAs, with staging walkouts for "political reasons", he said "by sending out some members on unavoidable occasions, I was only sticking to Assembly norms. It is not like politics, where there are no permanent friends or foes".

Mr. Kalimuthu said it was improper on the part of the opposition members to raise the Queen Mary's College and the government employees' strike issues before question hour. They created a ruckus despite the Chief Minister explaining that the QMC issue was sub judice. The government employees only indulged in a one-day token strike and, hence it was a non-issue.

Denying that he curbed the freedom of the press, Mr. Kalimuthu accused the opposition members of distracting the attention of mediapersons. He termed the allegation "baseless" that the members were not given enough time to speak. Opportunities were given based on the proportion of the parties' strength in the House. But, communist party members took more time than they deserved. Unlike as in the earlier regime when the duration given for a member for raising an issue included the time taken for replying, at present, only the time taken by the member to speak was taken into consideration.

Our Coimbatore Staff Reporter adds:

In Coimbatore, the CPI national secretary, D. Raja, condemned Mr. Kalimuthu's act of putting curbs on the media. "The Assembly does not belong to any single party and the Speaker should act above party lines. He may be from a particular party. As Speaker he must protect the rights of every member.

Reacting sharply to Ms. Jayalalithaa's remarks that the Communists either talk or agitate, he said "but we continue to fight and do not budge. We are not scared of repression by any Government".

History showed that desperation had been the cause of a "rabid anti-Left stance" and "we have seen the rise and fall of many Chief Ministers. So, she (Ms. Jayalalithaa) should now look forward to her downfall", he said.

Our Chennai Special Correspondent reports

The DMK president, M.Karunanidhi, said the Speaker acted to silence dissent. Asked about the evictions from the Assembly, he said the aim was to ensure that no one spoke against the Government.

Mr.Karunanidhi alleged that the Speaker was instructed to warn journalists against recording views of opposition members on the Assembly premises. When it was pointed out that the practice of eliciting views of the Opposition on the Assembly premises was in vogue all over the country and also in Parliament, he said that there was nothing more he could add. ``I can only join you in your sorrow.''

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