Crying foul over the ‘black out’ of the opposition in the telecast of the Tamil Nadu Assembly’s proceedings, former chief minister and AIADMK general secretary E Palaniswami on Thursday charged the ruling DMK with murdering democracy through censorship.

“Even today, the cameras haven’t turned towards the opposition. Does the Assembly end with the treasury benches and the Speaker? Do the opposition rows rattle you so much Mr Stalin? Why are you apprehensive?” EPS said in a social media post, criticising the continued erasing of the opposition in the live telecasts of the proceedings.

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“The Stalin model government’s attempt at blocking the questions raised by the opposition for the welfare of the people and keeping them hidden from the people is murder of democracy. The legislature is not a DMK platform for a public meeting but the House of the people of Tamil Nadu,” read the post on his ‘X’ handle, adding that the proceedings of the Assembly have to be streamed live without guillotining or censoring the views expressed by the opposition.

“If the question ‘Who is the Sir’ disturbs you to no end, who are you trying to protect?” he asked as the AIADMK members arrived at the House sporting black shirts and a badge ‘Who is the Sir’, to target the DMK government over the Anna University sexual assault case in which the accused had reportedly spoken to a ‘Sir’ while committing the offence.

However, the fourth day of the ongoing session, witnessed the DMK and the AIADMK joining together in opposing the new draft guidelines of the University Grant Commission (UGC) on granting extensive powers to Governor-Chancellors of the varsities in the appointment of Vice-Chancellors.

Barring the BJP, all the parties, including the AIADMK and the PMK, which is a constituent of the NDA, have supported a resolution moved by Chief Minister MK Stalin, demanding the Union Government to withdraw the draft regulations of the UGC. While the BJP staged a walkout, the resolution was adopted unanimously through a voice vote.

Moving the resolution, Stalin blamed the Modi government for “Making a brazen attempt to capture the universities created using the resources of the state governments.

“The draft, besides undermining federalism, encroaches upon the rights of states, making the states governments redundant. Only bringing back Education to the State List from the Concurrent List of the Constitution could ensure social justice and inclusiveness in education,” he said, adding that the BJP-led Union Government was not able to stomach the rapid strides that Tamil Nadu had made in the domain of Education.

“The DMK government will not remain a mute spectator to the autonomy of top-notch institutions of the state being taken away,” he asserted