Chennai, Sept 8:
DMK MLAs were evicted en masse from the Tamil Nadu Assembly on Tuesday after they stormed the Well and raised slogans in protest against Speaker J.C.D. Prabhakar’s refusal to expunge Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay’s remarks on the Sarkaria Commission and an Enforcement Directorate document made during his reply on Monday.
The confrontation erupted when the Speaker made it clear that the Chief Minister’s remarks would remain in the Assembly records. The DMK members strongly objected to the decision and demanded that the references be removed.
As the Speaker stood by his ruling, the DMK MLAs trooped into the Well and raised slogans. Minister and presidium chairman K.A. Sengottaiyan warned the members that their conduct was against the traditional norms and decorum of the Assembly and appealed to them to return to their seats.
Speaker Prabhakar too repeatedly warned the protesting members and directed them to withdraw from the Well. However, the DMK MLAs continued their protest despite the warnings.
With the disruption continuing, the Speaker ordered their eviction. Assembly marshals entered the Well and evicted the DMK members en masse.
The eviction turned dramatic as some of the protesting MLAs resisted the marshals. A few DMK members were physically lifted and carried out of the House by marshals, even as the protest continued.
The immediate trigger was Vijay’s reply on Monday during the debate on the demands for grants for the Police Department. The Chief Minister had invoked the Sarkaria Commission’s findings while making allegations concerning the previous DMK regime and had also referred to an Enforcement Directorate document.
The DMK had demanded that the remarks be expunged, contending that the allegations should not form part of the official Assembly record.
However, the Speaker rejected the demand and maintained that there was no ground to remove the Chief Minister’s remarks. His decision sparked the fresh confrontation, culminating in the mass eviction of the Opposition members.
The dramatic scenes marked another major clash between the DMK Opposition and the ruling TVK government, with the Assembly witnessing slogan-shouting, protests in the Well and the intervention of marshals.