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Jaya supports BJP's demand for debate on Article 356

All India Anna DMK general secretary J Jayalalitha today endorsed the Bharatiya Janata Party's plea for a national debate on the use of Article 356 of the Constitution and asserted that its repeal would spell anarchy for the country, besides endangering national security.

In a statement in Madras, Jayalalitha said if this provision was deleted, the state governments would become emboldened to do anything against the interest of national security.

Accusing Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi of adopting double standards on the use of Article 356, she said the former had no moral authority to demand the repeal of the Article or to reject the suggestion for a debate on the issue.

Jayalalitha said it was Karunanidhi who had camped in Delhi in 1980 after the Lok Sabha election and prevailed upon the then prime minister Indira Gandhi to dismiss the AIADMK government headed by M G Ramachandran in the state "without any reason".

What moral authority does Karunanidhi have now to shout from the roof-tops that Article 356 should not be used against any state government, she asked.

The Article was the only available instrument to preserve national unity and integrity and prevent infiltration of alien forces into the country, she asserted.

Jayalalitha said only if a nation-wide debate on invocation of the Article was held, would the truth about who used it and when, to further their interests, and whether all those who now denounced it were being honest, come to light.

Recalling that former Tamil Nadu chief minister and DMK founder leader, the late C N Annadurai had stated after the 1962 Chinese war that the country's unity and integrity should be preserved at any cost, she said the Centre was bound to invoke Article 356 whenever there was a break-down of law and order in any state, any state government violated the letter and spirit of the Constitution, the decisions of the Centre and the orders of the Supreme Court.

The Article could also be invoked in case of infiltration of "hostile alien forces" into a state with state government's connivance, she added.

UNI

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