Chennai, July 11
Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) General Secretary and MP Vaiko was arrested this evening under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) and other Sections of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act for supporting the LTTE.Madurai SP Aishmani Tiwari served non-bailable arrest warrant at the airport as Mr Vaiko landed here three hours behind schedule by a Jet Airways aircraft.
He was whisked away by the securitymen to Tirumangalam near Madurai where he would be produced before a Magistrate.
Besides the SP, Mr Vaiko was escorted by the DSP, two Circle Inspectors, four Inspectors, four Sub-Inspectors and 25-member constabulary in a van armed with rubber bullets and teargas shells.
The MDMK cadres’ plan to give a rousing reception to Mr Vaiko was thwarted by police as they were intercepted midway to the airport.
Only securitymen and mediapersons were seen in the arrival lounge outside the airport.
Mr Vaiko’s wife, Renuka Devi, his son Durai Vaiyapuri and secretary Arunagiri, were allowed with special passes to receive him.
Union Ministers Gingee Ramachandran and M Kannappan were also present at the airport.
After his arrest Mr Vaiko told reporters “We are not afraid and will not be cowed by the repressive measures of the fascist Jayalalithaa government.
“We will not indulge in violence like AIADMK men who went on rampage after Ms Jayalalithaa was convicted in a corruption case. Buses were burnt and three college girls were burnt alive”.
He said “We will fight the fascist regime with people’s support”.
With Mr Vaiko’s arrest, all nine MDMK functionaries, against whom FIRs had been filed after they addressed a public meeting in Tirumangalam on June 29 supporting the LTTE, had been arrested under POTA.
More than 2,400 people, including 200 in Chennai, had been
taken into preventive custody in view of the arrest.Earlier, Mr Kannappan and Mr Ramachandran told reporters that the party would go ahead with tomorrow’s statewide picketing programme in protest against the arrests.
NEW
DELHI: The Communist Party of India (CPI) on Thursday said the arrest of Mr Vaiko clearly demonstrates that Ms J. Jayalalithaa has used POTA to nail her opponent.
“There is no doubt that Ms Jayalalithaa has used POTA to put down her opponent,” CPI General Secretary A.B. Bardhan said here.
When asked for his reaction to the arrest of Mr Vaiko Mr Bardhan said it was a proof of what the Left parties had been maintaining on the misuse of POTA and such legislations.
“We have been saying from the very beginning that POTA will be used against political opponents,” he said.
The BJP also disapproved of the use of POTA against Mr Vaiko.
In his initial reaction to the news of Mr Vaiko’s arrest, the BJP spokesman Arun Jaitley said mere expression of support to the LTTE, without accompanying incident, was untenable especially in view of Mr Vaiko’s clarifications.
Asked what would be the next course of action, Mr Jaitley said, “There is a lot of scope for judicial review.”
UNI, PTI
