DMK leaders back Abdullah’s 'Periyar' remark in Parliament

CHENNAI: Unfazed by the sharp retort of the BJP led right wing constituents, the ruling DMK on Tuesday put its full weight behind the party's Rajya Sabha MP M M Abdullah. The debutant Rajya Sabha MP of the DMK triggered a row on Monday after he recalled a quote of 'Thanthai' Periyar on the right of an ethnicity to self-determination.

Taking to social media to vent his ire at union home minister Amit Shah led BJP ministers fuming over Abdullah's remark which was eventually expunged by the Speaker of the Rajya Sabha, chief minister and DMK president M K Stalin said, "Right to speech has been strangled in the parliament itself, " Stalin remarked. "It is a shame that the name of Thanthai Periyar has been expunged in the same Parliament in which former Prime Minister V P Singh said that Periyar was the reason for implementing the Mandal Commission's recommendation."

State sports minister Udhayanidhi Stalin also rushed to his party MP's support and tweeted late Monday that the speech of Abdullah with reference to Periyar has rattled the fascists. Strongly condemning the expungement of Periyar and his quote from Abdullah's speech, Udhayanidhi said,

"Periyar's name could only be removed from the records (of the Parliament). His name can never be removed from the minds of the people. Let us put an end to the atrocity of the fascists against Parliamentary democracy and freedom of speech." DMK sympathizers on social media also went to town against the BJP for striking Periyar off the record.