The Hindu : Voting for POTA a mistake: Vaiko

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Mar 23, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Tiruchi

Voting for POTA a mistake: Vaiko

By Our Tamil Nadu Bureau

TIRUCHI, MARCH 22. Voting along with the constituents of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in Parliament to bring in the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) was one of my political mistakes, the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) general secretary, Vaiko, said on Sunday.

By misusing the provisions of the Act, the State Government had denied him his duty to serve the electorate, Mr. Vaiko said at an election rally at Manaparai. Mr. Vaiko said the Supreme Court had held that his mere speeches did not constitute any offence under the POTA and that the court had taken exception to certain views of the Tamil Nadu Government and its application of the POTA. He charged the Bharathiya Janata Party-led Government at the Centre for having gone back on the assurances given to him and others against allowing any misuse of the Act. Earlier, speaking at another meeting at Thuvarankurichi, an area where there was a sizeable minority population, Mr. Vaiko claimed that he had opposed the Centre's Ayodhya manoeuvres, which militated against the assurances given to the minorities. The MDMK leader, campaigning in support of the DMK candidate for the Karur Lok Sabha constituency, K.C. Palanisamy, claimed the electorate viewed the Lok Sabha polls as a rehearsal to unseat the AIADMK Government.

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