TN: Left Parties Protest against Union Budget
V B Ganesan
THE whole country watched in horror as finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the union budget, which is designed to punish those states that rejected the lies of the BJP in the recent Lok Sabha elections. The state of Tamil Nadu bore the brunt of her animosity in multiple ways.
Condemning this vindictive attitude, the Left Parties of Tamil Nadu, namely the CPI(M), CPI, and CPI(ML-Liberation) have decided to launch a statewide picketing programme on August 1. As per the joint announcement made earlier, leaders and cadres of the three Left parties converged in large numbers at picketing centres across the state, demonstrating against the central government's neglect of the genuine demands of states, including Tamil Nadu. In some locations, copies of the union budget were also burnt in protest.
CPI(M) state secretary K Balakrishnan led the protest at Guindy, Chennai, along with CPI and CPI(ML-Liberation) leaders. When they proceeded towards Anna Salai, they were stopped and arrested.
Polit Bureau member G Ramakrishnan, CPI state secretary R Mutharasan, and CPI(ML-Liberation) district secretary Balasubramanian led the picketing in Coimbatore. Central Committee member P Sampath led the protest in Madurai, accompanied by other leaders. Central Committee member U Vasuki and Chennai Central district secretary G Selva, along with other Left party members, protested against the budget in front of Shastri Bhavan, Chennai. The picketing took place not only in Chennai and district headquarters across the state but also in other major towns.
In more than 200 centres where picketing was conducted, a large number of youth and women joined the leaders of the three Left parties in the protest. However, under the pretext of maintaining law and order, the police stopped the protesters from proceeding to the designated points and arrested them. It is estimated that more than one and a half lakh cadres from the three Left parties and other mass organisations participated in the programme and courted arrest. There were some scuffles between the protesters and the police at nearly all picketing centres. However, in Mayiladuthurai, while a large number of youth protested against the centre's discrimination, particularly towards Tamil Nadu and the unemployed youth, the police swung into action and lathi-charged the gathering. DYFI district president Ayyappan and Kuthalam, secretary Stalin were brutally attacked on their heads and were later admitted to the District Government Hospital for treatment. The district leaders condemned the high-handedness of the police in this incident and demanded administrative action against the delinquent officials.
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