A political firestorm brews in Tamil Nadu as BJP accuses police of tilting the scales for DMK by delaying or denying nods for 25,000 vital corner meetings. This statewide voter outreach, meant to expose ruling party flaws, encounters what BJP calls engineered obstacles threatening fair democratic discourse.
Spokesperson A.N.S. Prasad urged police neutrality: ‘Act independently, uphold the law, and enable these assemblies.’ His plea to superiors stresses defending core rights amid perceived partisanship.
Nainar Nagendran helms the effort, bolstered by K. Annamalai’s counsel. From February 17, luminaries including Ministers L. Murugan, Pon Radhakrishnan, Tamilisai Soundararajan, Vanathi Srinivasan, and others flagged off events spanning booth clusters, integrating NDA allies seamlessly.
Objectives are pointed: highlight DMK’s alleged corruption, hereditary rule, drug proliferation, promise defaults, and financial squeezes. These sessions serve as platforms for accountability in public eyes.
Reports from the field paint a grim picture – permissions languish, venues get vetoed, pressures mount. CM Stalin’s Kolathur stands out for intensified meddling attempts, per BJP accounts over recent days.
Remedies sought target apex officials: Chief and Home Secretaries, DGP, Chennai CP, district SPs. Chief Electoral Officer Archana Patnaik is asked to deploy oversight squads locally for transparency.
Emphasizing peaceful, budget-conscious programming, BJP anticipates robust NDA support statewide. The episode reveals fault lines in Tamil Nadu governance, with broader implications for upcoming polls and beyond.