As Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Tamil Nadu wing is gearing up for its president K Annamalai’s 120-day yatra, a political party leader from Chennai has urged the government to refuse permission for the yatra. On Wednesday, July 26, GG Shiva, leader of the political party Desiya Munnetra Kazhagam, met Director General of Police (DGP) Shankar Jiwal and submitted a request asking to ban the yatra.
“BJP is conspiring to incite communal riots by attacking churches and masjids in the state during the yatra, as the party did in the northern states in the past. This yatra by the BJP leaders and cadres will create a law and order issue in Tamil Nadu. To avoid such untoward events unfurling in Tamil Nadu, the government should ban the yatra,” Shiva, in his complaint, said.
Talking to TNM, Shiva, also the founder and president of the party, said that history had already witnessed how such yatras eventually turned into communal disharmony and disrupted the nation in the past. “LK Advani’s yatra is a perfect example. In the name of yatras, BJP party members would target places of worship of minorities and create a problem for common people. So we urge the government to stop this yatra from happening in a state like Tamil Nadu,” Shiva said.
The BJP yatra will commence on July 28 from Rameswaram of Ramanathapuram district. In the 120-day yatra, Annamalai plans to cover 234 Assembly constituencies in 39 Parliament constituencies in the state. The yatra called ‘En Mann, En Makkal - Prathamar Modiyin Tamil Muzhakkam’ (My land, my people - Prime Minister Modi’s blaring call to Tamils) was supposed to take place in April this year but postponed due to Karnataka Assembly elections. According to The Hindu, Annamalai plans to visit two Assembly segments each day, walk an average of 9.5 km and cover the rest on the campaign bus.
It is BJP’s second such yatra planned to gain a foothold in the state. In 2020, L Murugan, the then BJP state president, started the Vel Yatra, ahead of the 2021 state Assembly elections. The yatra had aimed to cover the six abodes of the Tamil god Lord Murugan. But on the first day, Murugan and a few cadres from the party were detained for defying the government's COVID-19 restrictions in the state.