Centre created a situation worse than a battlefield against farmers: TN CM Stalin

Chennai, Feb 14 (PTI) Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Wednesday slammed the BJP-led government at the Centre for "creating a situation worse than a battlefield" to suppress the farmers that are carrying out a protest march to Delhi.

Barricades were put up all around to restrain the farmers, and the police were posted in large numbers causing a tense situation near the national capital, Stalin pointed out, wondering aloud if democracy and the Constitution were still in force.

Calling upon his party men to gear up for a three-day state-wide campaign titled 'Stalin's Call to Retrieve Rights (Urimaigalai Meetka Stalin-in Kural)' commencing February 16, he wrote a letter to the cadres, in which he stated that the 2024 Lok Sabha election will turn out to be a fitting reply to the BJP government at the Centre.

Haryana security personnel lobbed tear gas shells on the farmers from Punjab at Shambhu border between the two states as thousands of protestors stationed themselves there on Wednesday, the second day of their 'Delhi Chalo' march.

The police action came whenever any group of the protesting farmers tried to move towards the barricades. Some farmers also pelted stones at the security personnel who were positioned close to the roadblock.

"As I write this letter to you (DMK workers), the Union government has created an environment worse than a battlefield to suppress our protesting farmers. Will democracy last in India? Is the constitution in place?" Stalin, who is the president of the DMK asked in the letter.

The theme of the three-day DMK campaign will be 'Let fascism fall, and India rise'.

"Whenever there was a threat to Indian democracy, Tamil Nadu has been the first to raise a firm voice to defend it and "it will be the DMK's voice," Stalin said in the epistle.

He boasted that the DMK has started giving "sleepless nights" to the BJP leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP President J P Nadda, and as a result, they have been ranting against the DMK while touring the country.

He accused the Centre of using the central agencies such as the Enforcement Directorate, the CBI and Income Tax department to target non-BJP ruled states and creating a crisis using the governors.

"In short, the Centre is acting like a dictator and snatching away the rights of states like Tamil Nadu," he said.

Training his guns on the opposition AIADMK, Stalin alleged that though the AIADMK had announced that it had severed ties with the BJP, that party still had a tacit understanding with the saffron party, and it should be exposed in the Lok Sabha polls. PTI