Tamil Nadu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) sat on a one-day hunger strike on February 21 in Chennai as a protest against the DMK Government over the killing of an Army jawan in Krishnagiri. Tamil Nadu Police arrested the main accused, DMK Councillor Chinnasamy and nine others, including his police son Rajapandi in the jawan’s death case in Krishnagiri.
Functionaries of the ex-servicemen wing of the BJP’s Tamil Nadu unit launched a day-long hunger protest condemning the Tamil Nadu Government in connection with the killing of army personnel, Prabhu, and the attack of the party’s SC wing leader Tada Periyasamy’s house and property, a few days ago.
The hunger strike was held in Chennai, where Tamil Nadu BJP President K Annamalai, senior party functionaries, and cadres participated. The day-long hunger strike was to seek justice for the killing of 29-year-old Lance Naik Prabhu and the attack on the residence of the party’s Scheduled Castes wing chief ‘Tada’ Periyasamy.
Office-bearers of the party, addressing party workers, condemned the ruling DMK regime for killing the soldier and the attack on party leader Periyasamy. The speakers at the protest slammed the DMK Government, aired that law and order have deteriorated in the State, and pointed out the death of the army personnel who came home on leave.
Annamalai said, “For PM Modi lives of defence personnel are important, and it is immaterial of his caste, religion and others. It was due to India’s bold step; Pakistan was forced to release unhurt Indian Air Force Pilot Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman in 2019. The same way PM Modi ordered retaliatory action against Pakistan by way of a surgical strike and it is case in other attacks on Indian soldiers. But in Tamil Nadu not only lives of Army and common men are in peril. The law and order is deteriorating too bad to worse”.
A former Army officer Col B Pandian (retd), who now serves as a functionary of the BJP veterans wing in Tamil Nadu, claimed that R Chinnaswamy, a DMK councillor in the Nagojanahalli town panchayat, the accused in the murder of Lance Naik Prabhu, 29, had threatened the victim that he had the support of the ruling DMK Government.
Pandian said, “if one looked back at the history, one would know it was not new for DMK functionaries to threaten or indulge in crime.
He said, “I am warning the Tamil Nadu Government. The Indian Army is the second-largest Army in the world and the most disciplined. If you provoke Army Jawans, it is not good for Tamil Nadu; it is not good for the Tamil Nadu Government. If you attempt to test us, then it will lead to law and order issues. I am saying it in a kind manner.
The veterans here are experts in bombing and shooting, and we are also good at fighting. We know all these things but don’t want to do them. I request the State Government not to make us do these things. This is a warning,” he said”.
Later in the evening, K Annamalai, the party’s State president, led a candlelight rally from Omandurar Government hospital point on arterial Anna Salai. It culminated at the War memorial near the Marina beach, a distance of about 2 km.
Speakers came down firmly on the State Government. They said Chief Minister M K Stalin condemned the attack on Tamil students by the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and the vandalising of Periyar and Karl Marx portraits at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in New Delhi. Stalin demanded strict action from the university administration while he was yet open his mouth to condemn the attack on the Army by party functionaries. He made a statement without knowing the truth and parroted a statement based on DMK’s IT wing, a fake peddler. Left goons vandalised pictures of Maharaja Shivaji and Indian kings”.
After the candlelight march, a delegation led by Annamalai called on Governor RN Ravi and presented a petition seeking appropriate action on the issue.
It is learnt that President Draupadi Murmu seised the matter and ordered an inquiry. A team of army officers visited Prabhu’s village and were expected to make a report. Based on that, according to sources, she may ask the Governor to take action, including bringing Tamil Nadu under the President’s rule. A slew of attacks on police officers on duty by rowdy elements has occurred. Even police officers’ premises are not safe from burglaries.
Earlier, Prabhu’s brother Prabhakar, also an Army jawan, had demanded justice and said, “I will not return to the Force until those who killed my brother are punished.”
He said, “Until they are punished, I’m not leaving (to join duty). We didn’t do anything wrong. I worked in the Force for 13 years and came here for a month and this is what I see. He (DMK councillor Chinnasamy) said that ‘you might be working in the Indian Army but can’t do anything to me’. He told me directly. My brother is dead now, he has two children”.
BJP leader and actress Khushbu Sundar on 16th made a series of attacks on Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin over the death of Army jawan Prabhu. She questioned the ruling party over remaining silent on the issue and alleged that DMK believed in goondaism.
She said, “Everyone in DMK, including Chief Minister MK Stalin and even the DMK councillor, who is responsible for the death of Lans Naik Prabhu, sleep well peacefully at night because we have brave soldiers like Lance Naik Prabhu at the borders, safeguarding us, beating them up to an extent, where we lose them is something which is not acceptable.
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