While anti-social and Jihadist elements slaughter the Hindu leaders in the streets of Tamil Nadu both the government and police turn a blind eye to the situation
TS Venkatesan
Attacks on the Hindu nationalist organisations are on rise in Tamil Nadu and both the state administration and police are oblivious of the same. The recent one is the gruesome killing of Hindu Munnani district spokesperson. Tension prevailed across the Coimbatore District, the commercial and industrial hub of Tamil Nadu, on September 23, with widespread incidents of stone pelting on buses and shops, setting vehicles on fire, following the murder of a Hindu Munnani functionary by a gang late on the previous day night.
Hindu Munnani Coimbatore District spokesperson, C Sasikumar (36) was a popular leader of the Hindu Munnani and was in the forefront of the campaign against terrorism and Love Jihad, a serious issue in Coimbatore. He was returning back to home in Subramaniampalayam, on the outskirts of the city, on a two-wheeler when the unidentified assailants chased him on motorcycles and attacked him with sickles. He was rushed into a private hospital, where he died, police said.
Hundreds of Hindu Munnani members gathered in front of the private hospital. The body of the deceased was sent to the CMCH immediately and was kept in the mortuary for post-mortem. Ramagopalan, the octogenarian leader of the Hindu Munnani said, “Tamil Nadu has become unsafe for Hindus. The frequent killings of Hindu activists and Hindu leaders happen due to the inefficiency and indifference of the government as well as the police.”
In a statement issued in Tirupur, Kadeswara C Subramaniam, the state president of Hindu Munnani listed a series of attacks on his cadre including three murders–the latest being Coimbatore unit PRO C Sasikumar, who was hacked to death last night by a four-member gang–and attacks including arson at Vellore, Tirupur, Dindigul and now Coimbatore. “The police intelligence should have become alert and protected others by arresting the persons behind that. If it had been done, attacks would not have continued. If the government have been good, the intelligence would too have been good. The government should ensure that such incidents would not occur in the future. Or else it will lead to a situation of Tamil Nadu becoming another Gujarat,” he warned. He had called for a State-wide bandh condemning the attack over Hindu people in the State.
Hindu Munnani state executive council member Rajesh recalled that when the body was kept in the hospital for more than 7 hours, thousands of HM cadres patiently waited. “When the body was taken to his residence in a procession, at a particular spot where a minority worship place was located, there were anti-India and pro-Pakistan slogans from inside the place. They threw stones and other objects on the processionists to provoke. There have been 30 to 40 attacks on our cadres. HM is growing leaps and bounds in the state. They are unable to digest it. So the pro-Muslim outfits with foreign funding and the sleeper cells of terror outfits are behind the attack. Close on the heels of arrest of IS activist in Tirupur, we have been warning the police on the possibilities of the imminent attack on Hindu organisations’ workers. There were incidents of suspicious people roaming in number-plate-less cars and making enquires about us. We had brought it to the notice of police. In Sasikumar’s case, he was given police protection following threat to his life. But it was withdrawn few days before the attack. So the attackers closely watched him. Had the police protection been continued, he would have been saved. But the police turned blind eyes to it. Police are yet to make any arrests in these attacks,” he said. Police are yet to ascertain the reason for his murder. Six special police teams have been formed to nab the culprits.
Meanwhile, on September 25, miscreants threw petrol bombs at Dindugal BJP office. On the same day, miscreants set fire to BJP functionary Bose’s car. In Coimbatore, anti social elements, hurled petrol bombs on the shop owned by RSS pracharak Karthik. These incidents prove that there are concerted and well planned attacks on RSS and other Hindu nationalist organisations to silence them.
Condemning the attack on Hindu Munnani cadre, the state BJP chief Tamil Isai Soundarajan said that the part would organise protests in all district headquarters from September 28 onwards. She urged the police to stop killing of Hindu leaders in the state. “Anti-social elements and terrorists cannot operate without the knowledge of police. The police should deal with them with an iron fist,” said TNCC president Su. Thirunavukkarasar.
TMC leader GK Vasan said it was unfortunate that Sasikumar’s death had led to violence in Coimbatore and Tirupur Districts. Condemning the violence, CPM State secretary G Ramakrishnan accused members of a political party and its fraternal
organisations of damaging public and private properties. Leaders of various organisations and associations began to circulate messages on social media appealing for peace in a city that took a long time to recover from the 1997-98 riots.
Hindu Munnani claimed that various Hindu organisations had lost more than a dozen leaders in the last three years and all of them were
murdered by members of Islamic
terrorist organisations. “In September, the Jihadi elements had unleashed attacks in five different places targeting RSS and other Hindu nationalist organisations’ leaders. Two Hindu Munnani functionaries, Shankar Ganesh of Dindigul and Mahesh of Vellore had providential escape while Sasi and Suri lost their lives, they pointed out.
They said the gruesome murder of 23-year-old Dhanya, a software engineer at Coimbatore on September 14 too was a jihadi attack. Sheanya was hacked to death by Zakkeer, a Muslim youth, when she rejected his proposal to marry her,” they added. Muslim organisations approached the Collector seeking intervention of the district administration and the police to put an end to the violence by Hindu outfits. They also submitted a petition to the city Police Commissioner A Amalraj.
Even after the state police failed to crack the murder of Hindu Munnani cadre Sasikumar, the probe has now been handed over to SIT wing of Crime Branch CID. State BJP chief Tamil Isai Soundarajan and National Secretary H Raja were among those detained here for trying to stage a protest over the killing, police said. Calling the murder of Sasikumar as “undoubtedly a terrorist activity”, Union Minister Pon Radhakrishnan asked police to probe whether the assailants had any link to terrorists in Pakistan. Raja slammed the police for their “failure” to nab the culprits and sought a CBI probe into the
murder. n
