Why jayalalitha arrested karunanidhi

Maran, who was also a Union minister, happened to be in Chennai that day. Within minutes he reached the spot. The cameras captured it all—the damning evidence of the violation of human rights and the abuse of power. They witnessed the rude exchange of words when Maran asked the police to produce the arrest warrant, and the physical scuffle with the Union minister, a heart patient.

The police meted out similar treatment to T. Baalu, another Union minister from the DMK, who arrived on the scene. It was a shocking spectacle and Sun TV knew how potent the material was—and aired it all without a break.

Mani, and former chief secretary K. Maran had to be admitted to the intensive care unit of Apollo Hospital as a result of the physical assault by the police. The excuse for the crackdown was charges of massive corruption. Stalin was the prime accused in this along with his father and others for amassing financial gains in the construction of flyovers in Chennai during the DMK regime.

Stalin surrendered after a few hours. Twenty journalists were also taken into custody. Karunanidhi being whisked away by the police Photo via Wikimedia Commons. The incident created outrage not only in Tamil Nadu, but also in Delhi. Chennai Floods. Chennai Power Cut. Covid vaccine registration. Jayalalithaa, who gained notoriety by being the first sitting chief minister of the country to demit office and be arrested in connection with the disproportionate assets case, was also first chief minister to order the arrest of Union ministers.

If Indian politics is a theatre, Tamil Nadu is a multiplex. Where cigarette flicks and dark glasses are the perennial symbols of style and substance, sycophancy does a tandava over psephology. And with the players ensconced in the ministerial thrones in Delhi, it is no longer just a southern delight. Arun Ram, Resident Editor, The Times of India, Tamil Nadu, who alternates between the balcony and the front row, says it incites as much as it excites.

During the intervals, he chews on a bit of science and such saner things. Dr Karunanidhi, a year-old physician in Chennai was arrested on Thursday and kept in prison overnight. The charge: Causing hurt to a public servant. What he did: Asking a police sub-inspector accompanying Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa, who was visiting a patient in Apollo Specialty Hospitals, to remove his shoes before entering the intensive care unit.

How could a septuagenarian doctor ask him to remove the footwear which is an integral part of his uniform? This is Tamil Nadu, you see. While many papers played down the story or ignored it altogether, TOI reported it on Friday and frontpaged a follow-up on Saturday, catalysing a flurry of protests from doctors and politicians.

DMK leader M Karunanidhi, his tongue firmly in cheek, wondered if the doctor was punished because his name was also Karunanidhi. If that spoke volumes about misuse of power, the silence that followed the arrest till TOI published the stories on Saturday signified a nauseating sense of subservience.