The Tamil Nadu police have placed Ranjan Kumar, head of the Scheduled Caste wing of the Indian National Congress in Tamil Nadu, under house arrest ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the state on Sunday, March 1.
Ranjan Kumar was confined to his residence in Poonamallee, Chennai, on the night of Friday, February 26, and has remained under house arrest since then. Police action was reportedly taken in view of protests he had organised during the Prime Minister’s earlier visits to the state.
“This is the 11th time I have been placed under house arrest since the start of Narendra Modi’s 12-year tenure as Prime Minister,” Ranjan said.
He recalled that during a visit by the Prime Minister three years ago, he had participated in protests by showing black flags and flying black balloons over various issues. According to him, preventive house arrests have become a recurring pattern during the Prime Minister’s trips to Tamil Nadu.
“I have undertaken protests against the Tamil Nadu Governor’s actions that went beyond constitutional limits and against attacks on SC students in central universities. Today, the Prime Minister plans to visit Murugan’s temple at Thiruparankundram, but essential funds required for the state’s growth have been withheld. Education funds have been blocked,” Ranjan alleged.
He said that fresh protests had been planned for Sunday’s visit as well. “He is coming to Tamil Nadu attempting to create divisions along caste and religious lines. So we planned a protest against this,” he said.
Members of the Congress SC wing were instructed to display black flags during the Prime Minister’s visit. As Modi is scheduled to pass through Thanjavur, party cadres there were also asked to stage black-flag protests. Ranjan was expected to travel to Madurai for the protest but was prevented from doing so by the police. He had similarly been placed under house arrest during the Prime Minister’s previous visit.
The Prime Minister is scheduled to visit the Arulmigu Subramaniya Swami Temple, Thirupparankundram in Madurai on Sunday evening. The visit assumes significance in the backdrop of the Karthigai Deepam controversy that erupted in December 2025 in Thiruparankundram, a multi-religious pilgrimage town.
The Thiruparankundram hillock houses religious sites of multiple faiths, including the Hazrat Sultan Sikandar Badshah dargah alongside the Murugan temple and important Jain sites. Hindutva outfits had demanded permission to light the Karthigai Deepam lamp on a stone pillar near the dargah, leading to tensions with the state police.
The Prime Minister had referred to the issue during his previous visit to Tamil Nadu.