Stalin exhorts cadre to expose ‘subservient’ AIADMK and BJP

Remarking that the Bill would have been defeated in the Upper House had the 11 AIADMK members voted against it, Stalin, in his letter to the party cadre, said that history would never forgive the ‘subservient’ AIADMK regime, which betrayed the minorities and Eelam Tamils without knowing the value of the trump card (11 votes). Denying the claim made by home minister Amit Shah in the Upper House that citizenship was granted to over five lakh Lankan Tamils in the past, Stalin clarified that five lakh Tamils were Indians who went to Lanka to eke out a living there and they were granted citizenship through an agreement reached between then Indian PM Lal Bahadur Shastri and his Lankan counterpart Sirimao Bandaranayake after the latter deprived Lankan citizenship to them.

Later in the day, DMK treasurer Duraimurugan demanded a clarification from chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami over AIADMK Rajya Sabha MP SR Balasubramoniyan’s claim that he was advised by a deputy secretary of the state Secretariat to vote in favour of the CAB. Referring to the senior AIADMK’s statement on voting in support of CAB in Rajya Sabha, Duraimurugan sought to know if the deputy spoke to Balasubramaniam at the behest of the CM or acted under the direct command of the BJP led Centre.

“If a deputy secretary at the Secretariat makes a decision for the AIADMK on a Bill against minorities and Eelam Tamils, is the party controlled by its leadership or officials at the Secretariat functioning as the agents of the union government?” Duraimurugan wondered.