CHENNAI: Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) filed a complaint with the Election Commission of India on Wednesday over Union Minister Shobha Karandlaje’s recent statement alleging that the suspect involved in the March 1 blast at the Rameshwaram Cafe was from Tamil Nadu.
Accusing the Union Minister of violating the Representation of the Peoples Act, 1951 and the Model Code of Conduct, the ruling party in Tamil Nadu has requested the poll panel to “take appropriate action against Karandlaje.”
The incident took place in Bengaluru on March 1.
Facing backlash, the Union Minister later apologized and took to her social media account, saying, “To my Tamil brothers & sisters, I wish to clarify that my words were meant to shine light, not cast shadows. Yet I see that my remarks brought pain to some – and for that, I apologize. My remarks were solely directed towards those trained in the Krishnagiri forest, linked to the Rameshwaram Cafe blast. To anyone from Tamil Nadu effected,
From the depths of my heart, I ask your forgiveness. Furthermore, I retract my previous comments.”
DMK alleged that the statement attempted to promote feelings of enmity between the people of Karnataka and the people of Tamil Nadu.
In its complaint, the DMK said, “Pertinently, an investigation in the blast case is currently underway, and the National Investigation Agency has so far not been able to identify the culprit behind the blast. Despite the same, the Hon’ble Minister has made the baseless accusation that the bomb was planted by people from Tamil Nadu. It is being reproduced hereunder: “People from Tamil Nadu come here, get trained there and plant bombs here. Placed bomb in cafe”.
“The statement attempts to promote feelings of enmity and hatred between the people of Karnataka and the people of Tamil Nadu, and has been made for the furtherance of the prospects of the election of the Hon’ble Minister. It generalises the people of Tamil Nadu as extremists, and seeks to create hostility and enmity between two communities, i.e., the Tamilians and the Kannadigas,” the DMK letter said.
The allegations made in the statement are of a grave nature and have the potential to engender violence against the Tamil community, DMK said.
The utterances of the Hon’ble Minister, instilling hatred in the Kannada community towards members of the Tamil community, are in blatant violation of the MCC, the DMK letter said.
“Therefore, we request your good selves to take appropriate action against the Hon’ble Union Minister for State Mrs. Shobha Karandlaje and the Bharatiya Janata Party for violating Sections 123(3A) and 125 of the RP Act, and the MCC,” the DMK said.
The Rameshwaram cafe blast took place at 1 pm on March 1 and the police had also found a suspect from the CCTV footage, keeping a bag inside the cafe. The police probe so far indicated that an IED device with a timer was used to carry out the explosion. (ANI)