Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], October 12 (ANI): Leader of the Opposition in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly, Udhayanidhi Stalin, on Monday condemned the alleged house arrest of multi-purpose medical workers across the state as they attempted to travel to Chennai to protest their demands, including job regularisation.

In a post on X, Stalin accused the state government of preventing people from exercising their democratic right to protest and alleged that medical workers were being placed under house arrest despite the government’s earlier promises to them.

Stalin wrote, “Just as youths travelling to Delhi to protest against electoral irregularities were arrested at various points, Udhayanidhi Stalin demands release of workers. I strongly condemn this ‘Sofa Model’ government for placing multi-purpose medical workers under house arrest across the state as they attempted to travel to Chennai to protest for demands such as job regularisation.”

Questioning the government’s actions, Stalin alleged that people were being arrested at their homes before they could even begin their protests.

“Why is this ‘Reels government’ engaging in such anarchy, arresting people at their homes before they can even set out to protest, a move unprecedented in scale after completely disregarding the promises made to medical workers before coming to power?” he wrote.

Stalin further questioned whether the government’s approach to change involved suppressing democratic protests by various groups, including farmers, students and nurses, without engaging in direct dialogue with them.

Urging the state government to address the workers’ concerns, Stalin called for action to fulfil their demands.

“The ‘Dummy Chief Minister’ must step forward to immediately release the multi-purpose workers who form the backbone of medical services and hold talks with them. I urge the government to take action to fulfil their legitimate demands,” he added. (ANI)