Chennai, July 4 (IANS) Several prominent DMK leaders, including M.K. Stalin, T.R. Baalu, Dayanidhi Maran and Rajya Sabha member Kanimozhi, along with several thousand of party cadres were let out free Wednesday evening after being arrested in the morning during party’s state-wide “fill the jails” protest.
The DMK staged the protest opposing the arrests of its former ministers and party members allegedly under false charges. The party is also opposing the “anti-people” policies of the ruling AIADMK government in the state.
In a statement Chief Minister J.Jayalalithaa said: “In order to divert the people attention that the action is taken against the DMK men on complaints given by common man, the agitation was held.”
She said the DMK party leadership had ordered members not to apply for bail if arrested and jailed.
“As it would be a useless exercise for the government and police to arrest the protestors, I have ordered the release of all the people arrested during this agitation,” Jayalalithaa said.
The DMK has claimed that a total of 232,797 members were arrested for staging the agitation across the state.
Speaking to reporters DMK president M. Karunanidhi said that he had expected around 100,000 arrests, but the final tally was unexpected.
“I consider the agitation as a grand victory,” he said.
According to him, the agitation could also be considered as a self assessment measure to know the party’s strength.
