CHENNAI, India, 24 September 2007 — Hundreds of Tamil Nadu’s ruling DMK cadres, led by a minister and Chennai mayor, yesterday attacked the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) office here after a former MP of the party declared he would weigh in gold anyone who beheaded Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi.
The protesters threw stones, smashed windowpanes, and cycles and scooters parked before the BJP office in crowded T. Nagar in the heart of the city and demanded the immediate arrest of pro-Hindutva leader and former BJP member of Parliament Ram Vilas Vedanti for his remarks in Ayodhya on Friday.
The agitators also burned effigies of Vedanti, described as a senior Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) man, and shouted anti-BJP slogans.
The DMK outfits, armed with black badges and flags, were led by Minister for Information Parthi Ilamvazhuthi and Mayor of Chennai M. Subramanian. T. Thirumavalavan, leader of the Dalit Panthers of India, led a protest before the BJP office in Chennai and demanded a ban on the VHP and the BJP. A crowd threw stones at Kamalaya, the BJP office in the city.
In what is turning into an ugly, violent spat, the houses of BJP’s Tamil Nadu unit president, H. Raja, and his father-in-law were also attacked, allegedly by DMK workers, at Karaikudi in Sivaganga district. Windowpanes were broken and some vehicles parked in front of the houses were damaged and the party flag destroyed.
Raja was not present in the house. Newspaper reports said BJP workers retaliated by throwing stones at the houses of DMK leaders in the neighborhood.
Police said some DMK and BJP workers had been detained in connection with the clashes.
Speaking at a gathering of schoolteachers on Saturday night, DMK President and Chief Minister Karunanidhi said he was not afraid of the order to kill him.
Karunanidhi loyalists at the meeting did not mince words about what they would do to “anyone who dared to threaten our leader.”
Minister Arcot Veerasamy said: “Unless this reckless north Indian, belonging to a barbaric outfit, seeks pardon immediately, I will personally lead my party cadres to picket all the BJP offices across Tamil Nadu.”
Veerasamy stood up on the podium of the teachers’ event to say: “The VHP is a mob of murderers. Vedanti will face dire consequences if he does not withdraw his words against our Thalivar (leader).”
Another DMK leader, Thangam Thenarasu, told Karunanidhi: “We do not need minister’s posts. Just signal us with your eyes and we will wage a war for you.”
State Higher Education Minister K. Ponmudi threatened, “We will not remain silent.”
