AIADMK held no condolence meet for Jayalalithaa: MK Stalin

ERODE: In remarks that could stoke fresh political controversies, the DMK president M K Stalin said here that his late father and former Chief Minister M Karunanidhi was unfairly jailed during the anti-Hindi agitation, even as he regretted that ruling AIADMK has not held a formal condolence meeting for former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa even two years after her demise in 2016. “We may have many differences with Ammaiyar Jayalalithaa; she died when she was Chief Minister and now those in power, the AIADMK, who have benefitted from her mandate and enjoying the spoils of office, have not even held a formal condolence meeting for Jayalalithaa even over two years after her demise in December 2016,” Stalin said speaking at a meeting to unveil a statue of Karunanidhi in Panneerselvam park in Erode on Sunday. Recalling several facets of the late DMK patriarch’s life, Stalin said, Karunanidhi, even after his demise, continued to be a “reference point” in both national and state politics, largely because of his range of contributions to politics, the political agitations he had led and suffered for, and the principles for which he fought. Karunanidhi’s entire life had thus been one of “struggle for public causes and the people”; yet when he died, the AIADMK government did not even give him a small place to rest on the Marina beach in Chennai, Stalin regretted, adding, it was the Madras High court which eventually ensured justice.