Chennai: Opposing the government’s decision to reopen TASMAC liquor shops, DMK president M K Stalin and his family members including wife Durga and son Udhayanidhi Stalin stood in front of their residence by wearing black dress and holding black flags.
This was followed by members of the DMK and its alliance partners across Tamilnadu. The Opposition DMK and its allies on Wednesday announced black badge protestS to condemn the Tamilnadu government’s decision to open State-owned TASMAC liquor shops from today at a time when the state was fighting to combat the coronavirus pandemic.
In a joint statement, Stalin said a decision to this effect was taken at a consultative meeting of the leaders of the alliance parties.
He said the protests, to be held for one day tomorrow, was to condemn the state government for opening the liquor shops and also the Centre for not releasing the necessary funds sought by the state for tackling the coronavirus.
Stalin said the ruling AIADMK was only keen on reopening the liquor shops, which remained shut for the last 40 days in view of the lockdown, instead of creating enough awareness among the people on the disease and not taking proper precautionary measures and providing solace to the people whose livelihood were affected by the lockdown.
He said a maximum of five people should assemble in front of their houses at 10 am today and protest for 15 minutes condemning the AIADMK government for failing to eradicate the coronavirus.
He also appealed to the people to wear black badges to register their protest and open the eyes of the AIADMK government.