BJP says govt violated court order 'indirectly'

The BJP today came down heavily on the DMK-led Tamil Nadu government and Chief Minister M Karunanidhi for attempts to "indirectly do what the Supreme Court has directly forbidden him to do."

"There is no restraint against peaceful protest, restraint is only against coercive protest," said BJP General Secretary Arun Jaitley. He was referring to CPI(M) leader Prakash Karat's comment that the right to protest was being taken away. "That is an exaggeration," he said.

"Prakash Karat can disagree with the Supreme Court order, he can overrule the prime minister, but fortunately in this country, he cannot overrule the court," he said.

"The orders of the court, popular or unpopular, have to be complied with. No litigant, person, political party or a government can arrogate to itself the authority to decide if the order is worth complying with or not," said Jaitley. "If they did so, it will be a charter for anarchy," he added.

"What the DMK appears to have done is to have ostensibly claimed that they are only undertaking a hunger strike, but they have used the state machinery to paralyse the transport system and to prevent people who want to work from working," he said.