Annamalai causes flutter by squatting on road

CHENNAI: Tense moments prevailed near Valluvar Kottam in Nungambakkam for some time as BJP State President K Annamalai, along with his supporters squatted on the road to protest against the denial of permission for him and his supporters of about 1,500 persons to walk to the main office of the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR & CE) department situation on Nungambakkam High Road.

Annamalai, who has been undertaking a ‘yatra’ by foot and by wheels through the State for the past month and is now on the second leg from Tenkasi to Coimbatore, broke from it and came down to Chennai to take part in the agitation organized to demand the removal of HR & CE Minister P K Sekar Babu for his participation in a conference to abolish Sanatana Dharma held in Chennai on September 2.

While the speech of State Minister for Sports Development Udhayanidhi Stalin at the conference created a stir all over the country with several national leaders and seers speaking against it, the State BJP took objection to the HR & CE Minister, who is in charge of temples in the State, attending the event and called for protests all over the State on Monday.

So protests were held in front of HR & CE offices in 60 places across the State by BJP workers on Monday morning. The Chennai event was scheduled for the evening to facilitate Annamalai to reach the State capital from Paramakudi where he had to pay homage at the memorial of Dalit icon Immanuel Sekaran.

As the protest near Valluvar Kottam, the spot earmarked by the government for holding agitations, came to a close, Annamalai announced that they should march to the HR & CE office and lay siege to put pressure on the government to drop Sekar Babu from the ministry and started to walk, causing a minor flutter among the police present there.

Police who had already posted several pickets at various places, including the HR & CE headquarters and Valluvar Kottam area, immediately stopped the BJP workers from marching ahead, which led to Annamalai squatting on the road, leading to the stopping of traffic during the evening hours on the busy locality.

With senior officers rushing to negotiate with the BJP State president, he finally relented, saying that their protest would continue and that they would approach the court for the removal of the Minister and dispersed from the spot.

Speaking on the occasion, Annamalai said that they had filed complaints with the police in over 250 places and as of now they remained just on paper. But a time would come when things changed and the papers would turn into powerful weapons, he said.

Accusing the HR & CE department of making just an annual profit of Rs 400 crore from the temple properties in the State when there was a potential to earn Rs 3000 crore, an amount that would help provide complimentary breakfast and lunch in all temples, he said that the department should leave the temples.