Samsung stir: Heat rises as Kancheepuram cops step in to ‘break’ agitation

CHENNAI: The simmering tension between the DMK-run State government and its allies, the Left parties, over the manner in which the protest by workers of Samsung Electronics went up a notch after the Kancheepuram police arrested and removed the agitating workers around midnight.

The move to detain the protesting workers came hours before the senior leaders of DMK’s alliance partners, including Congress, CPM, CPI, VCK, MDMK and TVK, were to meet the workers to express solidarity.

The development, and the way in which the issue has been turning into a political issue, has also given the impression that the ruling party is increasingly getting isolated in the way the issue is being handled.

Not mincing words, CITU State president A Soundararajan said the police action was akin to State terrorism, and demanded answers from Chief Minister MK Stalin, who handles the Home Department. "The police, which used to do such things during colonial rule, are acting in a similar manner in democracy. The government should not ask the employees to be slaves," he said.

The matter also reached the Madras High Court after E Muthukumar, CITU’s Kancheepuram district secretary, moved a habeas corpus petition (HCP) against the midnight arrest.

Appearing for the leader of the CPM-affiliated trade union which is spearheading the protest, senior counsel NGR Prasad said a team of police personnel headed by Sriperumbudur ASP arrested eight workers, including Ellan, the general secretary of the Samsung India Employees’ Union, during late hours.

Despite the Sriperumbudur judicial magistrate refusing to send them in remand and instead granting bail, the police detained the workers illegally, he said, adding that the police also removed the tent where they were conducting the protest. All these were done with the singular motive to derail the agitation for the benefit of Samsung management, the counsel added.

Additional public prosecutor A Damodaran responded that the eight workers were arrested for disrupting law and order, and added that they were released immediately after the judicial magistrate granted them bail. They were no longer in police custody, he submitted.

Even as it disposed of the petition after the clarification from the police, a vacation bench of Justice PB Balaji and Justice G Arul Murugan made it clear that the single judge had already allowed the workers to carry out their protest and no further order was needed in this respect.