Chennai:
After Tamil Nadu Raj Bhavan said the murder of army personnel M Prabhu is a “matter of serious concern”, state higher education minister on Wednesday hit back at Governor R N Ravi telling him to stop spoiling the state’s dignity.
In a photo circulating on Wednesday, Tamil Nadu BJP president K Annamalai is seen with a group of ex-servicemen submitting a petition to Governor Ravi. “Some Ex-Servicemen met the Governor and shared their collective anguish at the gruesome killing of M. Prabhu, a serving soldier by an armed gang led by a DMK councillor and lukewarm response of the state law enforcement. Indeed, it is a matter of serious concern,” the Raj Bhavan said in a late-night tweet on its verified page. However, there was no mention of a meeting with BJP leaders.
In a three-page statement, minister K Ponmudi accused the Governor of turning the Raj Bhavan into a coffee shop by posting photos and details on social media of his meetings with “jobless people”.
The Raj Bhavan’s statement comes a week after the Krishnagiri district police said the murder had no political angle and happened over a petty issue between relatives. Police have arrested nine people in this case including the ruling party councillor R Chinnasamy and his son who is a police constable in Chennai. “
Except for the fact that the accused is a councillor of the ruling party, there is no politics in the murder,” Ponmudi said. “But the BJP has made patriotism a politically saleable product. They are using the incident for media publicity. The party organised a protest and made a former army man speak that there might be deterioration of law and order in the state.”
This is the latest round of war of words between the Governor and the DMK-led Tamil Nadu government who have been at loggerheads for more than a year on various issue. “The Raj Bhavan tweets about a representation handed over to the Governor at the instance of a political party (BJP). When will they release details about the bill banning online gambling passed by the Tamil Nadu Assembly pending before it?” Ponmudi asked. “What will the Raj Bhavan say about other legislations that are pending for the Governor’s assent?…the governor should stop posting statements on social media like politicians and work in line with the duties accorded to him. Only that will justify the salary he receives from taxpayer’s money.”
The Tamil Nadu unit of the BJP held a protest in Chennai on Tuesday morning against the DMK government and went on a candlelight vigil in the evening for the deceased Lance Naik Prabhu. The protest was also attended by the ex-serviceman and one of them identified as B B Pandian threatened the Tamil Nadu government not to push army men like him to retaliate. Pandian was a former head of BJP’s ex-servicemen wing in Tamil Nadu. “The ex-servicemen present here are experts in the use of bombs, firearms and warfare. We will not do anything. But don’t provoke us,” Pandian said on Tuesday which has become controversial on social media. On Wednesday, Triplicane Police in Chennai booked Pandian under sections 153 (provocation with intention to cause riot), 505 1 (b) (intent to cause fear or alarm to the public whereby any person may be induced to commit an offence against the State or against public tranquillity), 506 (i) (criminal intimidation), said a police official.
Annamalai announced a ₹10 lakh solatium for Prabhu’s family. He recently criticised chief minister M K Stalin for not speaking on the crime. The murder, the BJP says, is a reflection of DMK’s disrespect to the Indian Army.
But following the nine arrests last week, Krishnagiri district’s superintendent of police P Saroj Kumar Thakur said the deceased, Prabhu, was the grandson of the brother of the accused DMK councillor. It wasn’t a pre-planned murder but an argument over a petty dispute of Prabhu’s sister-in-law washing clothes using potable water on February 8 escalated into a crime, he had said. On the same evening the DMK councillor and his relatives attacked Prabhu and his brother. While his brother survived, Prabhu, who succumbed to his head injuries in the attack. He died at a private hospital in Hosur on February 14.
