In Tamil Nadu, DMK , its allies and Muslim outfits had staged demonstrations and holded protests on the burning Manipur issue . MMK cadres erected a banner in Batlagundu over the Manipur violence targeting the Modi government in which Hindu Gods Ram, Lakshman and Sita have been portrayed in a derogatory manner. Images of Narendra Modi as Lord Ram and Amit Shah as Lord Lakshman holding bow and arrows standing on either sides of a naked woman (Goddess Sita), hinting at the horrific incident in Manipur in which a woman was paraded naked and sexually assaulted. The Indian tricolour can be seen covering the female genitals and the breasts of the woman in the picture.
Following outbursts and condemnation from Sangh parivar’s, devotees and nationalist people, MMK chief Jawahirullah MH regretted the same. He said as soon as the derogatory banner was noticed, it was pulled down. He also says that the party took action against those who were responsible for issuing the banner. Jawahirullah said that his party respects the sentiments of all people and would not do anything to hurt the sentiments of Hindus.
Jawahirula, said “as president of the party, I had reprimanded the fellows and members who were responsible for it. And we had taken disciplinary action against them. The Batlagundu police have also registered a case against them. If this has hurt the sentiments of our brothers and sisters I had publicly apologized for the act of some of our partymen in Batlagundu”,
Even before the high decibels of condemnation against the banner is lowering down, the party cadres put up another banner in Chennai and Coimbatore,. It was doing rounds on social media in which Bharat Mata is shown derogatorily.
Images shown in the tweet, the derogatory posters portraying the Manipur violence victim as Bharat Mata (Maa Bharat) with the two men who harmed her, one of them is shown wearing a saffron-coloured mask on his face. The cartoon of the victim with her perpetrators was also shared by a writer/filmmaker from Tamil Nadu, Raju Murugan who is known for films like Joker and the rabid anti-Hindu film Gypsy in which he would’ve peddled canards and propaganda against the ruling BJP. The same image was used in the protest rally of the MMK.
However, from the above picture it is visible that the protest meeting in Coimbatore happened with the derogatory picture of Bharat Mata in the backdrop. Jawahirullah,who is a sitting MLA contested the 2021 assembly polls on DMK symbol , has not apologized for the vulgar drawing of Bharat Mata.
In 2011, the CBI had registered a case against Jawahirullah, who was then the president of the Manithaneya Makkal Katchi (Muslim Munetra Kazhagam), Hyder Ali, the then state general secretary, Nizar Ahmed, the then state deputy president, Shiekh and Kalanjim, who were then authorised signatories of Coimbatore Muslim Relief Fund, and other members of the organisation in 2003. CBI had alleged that during the period ranging from December 15, 1997, to June 20, 2000, the accused, all of whom were members of MMK, had hatched a criminal conspiracy at Chennai and formed an association to accept foreign contributions, without going through the mandatory motion of registering their association and without seeking prior permission of the Indian government.
