Written by Arun Janardhanan
Tamil Nadu BJP president K Annamalai was Sunday booked by the state police on charges of inciting violence and promoting enmity between groups. The Cyber Crime wing registered a case against him for a tweet in which he accused Dravida Munendra Kuzhagan (DMK) leaders of making derogatory comments against north Indians.
Annamalai was booked under the Indian Penal Code for promoting disharmony, enmity or feelings of hatred between different groups on the grounds of religion, race, and language.
Hours after he was booked by the police, Annamalai dared the M K Stalin-led government to “arrest him within 24 hours”. He also alleged that false cases have been registered against him.
Workers from Bihar and Jharkhand at a construction site near Guindy, Chennai. (Express photo by Arun Janardhanan)“You [the DMK government] think that you can suppress the voice of democracy by filing false cases. As a common man, I give you 24 hours, to touch me if possible,” he tweeted.
Annamalai also claimed that he was booked for exposing the DMK’s seven-decade-long propaganda against north Indians. “So, here is the video of what they spoke about, which was mentioned in my press release yesterday. I challenge Fascist DMK to arrest me!” said Annamalai, tweeting a video of DMK leaders allegedly making remarks about BJP’s political plans in the state by inserting Hindi-speaking people in jobs.
On Saturday, Annamalai had held the DMK responsible for the ongoing fear in the north Indian migrant community in the state. Annamalai had charged that negative remarks by the DMK and its allies only triggered panic among north Indian workers living in Tamil Nadu. Stating that it was “disheartening to see fake news spread in social media about attacks on migrant workers in Tamil Nadu”, Annamalai tweeted that “DMK’s MPs’ vile comments on North Indians, DMK minister calling them Manipuri wala, and their alliance partners demanding their exodus have [all] triggered what we see today”.
“The people, the Government & the Police, do not endorse the views of DMK & their alliance partners. The divide that DMK always stood for is coming back to bite them, and it is now their responsibility to fix this situation and is an opportunity for them to put an end to their defunct propaganda.”
Annamalai’s tweet referred to State Higher Education Minister K Pomade’s controversial remarks in May 2022 against Governor R N Ravi encouraging students to learn Hindi. Stating that Tamil Nadu considers only two languages as significant — English and Tamil — Pommy had said: “There are people who say that learning Hindi would help us get jobs. Did we get it? In our state, go and see in Coimbatore, people who sell panni puris, they are all [Hindi speakers].”
Meanwhile, BJP leader Khushbu Sundar slammed the government for registering a case against Annamalai. Taking to Twitter, Sundar wrote “Cases registered against Annamalai show the draconian nature of the DMK government. This is an opportunity for the nation to know what they have been doing in the name of politics for last 60 years.”
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