Mixed response to T.N. govt.’s proposed SOP for public meetings, rallies, road shows

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) and Tamilaga Vazhvurimai Katchi, were among the parties which completely rejected the features proposed by the Tamil Nadu government to be part of the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for conducting political public meetings, rallies, road shows, cultural and religious events in the State. Political parties could also submit their inputs to the State government latest by November 10.

On the directions of the Madras High Court, the Tamil Nadu government convened a consultation for recognized political parties in the Secretariat campus in Chennai to get their inputs. Senior Ministers K.N. Nehru, S. Regupathy and Ma. Subramanian; Chief Secretary N. Muruganandam, Home Secretary Dheeraj Kumar, Director-General of Police in-charge K. Venkataraman and others took part in the meeting.

About 20 political parties, including the DMK, AIADMK, Congress, PMK, VCK, BJP, CPI (M), CPI, MDMK, Manidhaneya Makkal Katchi, Kongu Nadu Makkal Desiya Katchi, Tamilaga Vazhvurimai Katchi, Puratchi Bharatham, Naam Tamilar Katchi, Makkal Needhi Maiam, Indian Union Muslim League, Desiya Murpokku Dravidar Kazhagam, Bahujan Samaj Party, Aam Aadmi Party, Desiya Makkal Katchi among others took part in the meeting.

After the meeting, DMK’s R.S. Bharathi told reporters his party opined that the provisions proposed for the SOP should not violate the fundamental rights provided to all citizens through Article 12 of the Constitution.

AIADMK’s D. Jayakumar flagged the absence of the Chief Minister and the Deputy Chief Minister in the meeting, even though the Chief Minister has chaired all the all-party meetings since assuming office in 2021. He said though permissions were granted for public meetings during the erstwhile AIADMK regime, permissions were being denied by the DMK government if such events were being called for by opposition parties.

As for the proposed SOP, Mr. Jayakumar said accountability and responsibility should be fixed for authorities, as one of the provisions was for constituting district and taluk-level committees. He further called it a “name-sake meeting”. When opposition parties choose a location that has not been “recognised”, authorities will point out saying it was not recognised but their decision would be different if approached by ruling party, Mr. Jayakumar said.

Tamil Nadu Congress Committee president K. Selvaperunthagai opposed the proposal of security deposit for political parties, contending that small political parties would not be able to afford it. He also further advocated for differentiating between recognised and registered political parties.

CPI (M) leader K. Balakrishnan referred to the single judge of the Madras High Court over the SOP and further contended: “It is only a direction and not a judgment. The CPI (M) completely rejects the proposed provisions for the SOP. They deny the rights provided for by the Constitution to the people.”

Tamilaga Vazhvurimai Katchi founder T. Velmurugan said his party insisted for completely banning road shows. The model SOP proposed by the Tamil Nadu government was an attempt to snatch the rights of political parties, just because an order has been passed by the Madras High Court, he charged.

Speaking to reporters in the Secretariat campus, K. Balu, who represents the PMK headed by Anbumani, said his party was not invited for the meeting. He raised the issue with the Chief Secretary and other authorities. “It was unfortunate that the PMK has been insulted. PMK was recognised by the Election Commission. The government should clarify if this was intentional or a carelessness,” Mr. Balu said.

However, a list of participants at the meeting, shared by officials, mentioned that the PMK was represented by two functionaries - Muralishankar and V.S. Gopu.