Chennai, Aug 2: DMK leader M.K. Stalin on Thursday visited a restaurant whose owner and employees were attacked by party members and offered to pay for the damages, an act that won the heart of the proprietor.

Stalin went to the R.R. Anbu Biryani restaurant here and comforted the owner and employees for the weekend incident. He was accompanied by former Union Telecom Minister and Propaganda Secretary A. Raja and other colleagues.

On Sunday night, a group of DMK members led by Yuvaraj went to R.R. Anbu Biryani and demanded free biryani. The hotel employees told them that business had ended for the day, said police.

Enraged at this, Yuvaraj assaulted the cashier and other employees. He was joined by another party member, Diwakar.

The video of the attack went viral on the social media, following which the DMK on Wednesday suspended Yuvaraj and Diwakar for bringing disrepute to the party.

Stalin also condemned the violence on the hotel staff.

On Thursday, after Stalin comforted owner R.R. Tamilselvan, the latter praised the DMK leader whose father and former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi is warded in hospital battling major health related issues.

"I don't have any words to say. Even when his father, a great leader, is admitted in hospital, Stalin came to our restaurant and comforted us all," Tamilselvan said.

"Earlier he had called us to the DMK headquarters and enquired about the incident and the damages. He said he would want to visit the outlet." He pledged to make good the losses.

Tamilselvam said Stalin had asked the local party leaders as to how and why such persons were admitted to the DMK.

Tamilselvan said Yuvaraj always used to come to the restaurant and demand discount on food. He also expected not be billed for the food consumed.

Tamilselvan said he started his food business on a cartwheel and eventually grew into a 21-outlet chain.

Meanwhile, the police have arrested five persons while Yuvaraj and Diwakar are absconding.

According to the hotel staff, Yuvaraj had come to the hotel a week earlier and had parked his vehicle blocking the entrance, resulting in an argument with the hotel staff.

 

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New Delhi, Sep 24: The Congress on Tuesday cited BJP MP Kangana Ranaut's purported remarks on farm laws to allege that the ruling party was making efforts to bring back the three laws that were repealed in 2021, and asserted that Haryana will give a befitting reply to it.

The Congress shared on X an undated video of Ranaut in which she is purportedly saying in Hindi, "Farm laws that have been repealed should be brought back. I think this may get controversial. The laws in farmers' interest be brought back. Farmers should themselves demand this (to bring farm laws back) so that there is no hindrance to their prosperity.

"Farmers are a pillar of strength in India's progress. Only in some states, they had objected to farm laws. I appeal with folded hands that farm laws should be brought back in the interest of farmers."

In a post in Hindi along with the video, the Congress said, "The three black laws imposed on farmers should be brought back: BJP MP Kangana Ranaut has said this. More than 750 farmers of the country were martyred, only then did the Modi government wake up and these black laws were withdrawn."

Now BJP MPs are planning to bring back these laws, the Congress alleged.

"The Congress is with the farmers. These black laws will never return, no matter how hard Narendra Modi and his MPs try," the opposition party said on X.

Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate also shared the video of Ranaut on X and said, "'All three farm laws should be brought back': BJP MP Kangana Ranaut. More than 750 farmers were martyred while protesting against the three black farmer laws. Efforts are being made to bring them back."

"We will never let that happen. Haryana will answer first," she said in an apparent reference to the assembly polls in Haryana.

Congress' media and publicity department head Pawan Khera also shared the video on X and said it was the BJP's "real thinking".

"How many times will you deceive the farmers, you two-faced people?" Khera said in a post in Hindi.

The three laws -- Farmer's Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act; The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Act; and The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act -- were repealed in November 2021.

The farmers' protest started at the fag-end of November 2020 and ended after Parliament repealed the three laws. The legislations came into force in June 2020 and were repealed in November 2021.