Chennai: The BJP has demanded the enquiry commission appointed by the TN government to probe into the Thoothukudi violence, to look into the “foreign conspiracy” angle and identify the “force” that had incited violence on Tuesday leading to the police firing.
“The Thoothukudi deaths following police firing is regrettable. Public grievance cannot be addressed on the streets. When the matter is in court, why should the innocent people be instigated to agitate and lose their lives. The opposition parties shouldn’t settle political scores on human lives,” BJP State president Dr. Tamilisai Soundararajan has said reacting to the violent incidents in the southern coastal town.
“The forces behind the incidents need to be probed in depth to find any foreign conspiracy to disturb peace in Tamil Nadu,” she insisted.
Describing the loss of lives due to police firing as “unfortunate” Union Minister of State for Finance and Shipping Pon Radhakrishnan said the loss of lives could have been prevented had the copper smelter plant been closed down long ago. “However, the reason for the agitation to prolong for such a long period should be probed and appropriate action taken,” he said.
The persons responsible for the violence, their antecedents and who was instigating the people should be probed by the enquiry commission, the resolution urged and condemned the state government and the police intelligence department for “failing” to act swiftly and pre-empt the design of the rioters. In 1996, Pon Radhakrishnan undertook a fast agitation against the Sterlite plant for three days and was arrested and taken to hospital. Despite this, he continued the fast for another two days in the hospital, demanding that permission should not be given to the plant, the resolution recalled.
