9 August 2023, Mumbai: Officials from the revenue department in the wee hours of Monday night broke the gate of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) office in Tamil Nadu’s Virudhunagar district and removed a statue of Bharat Mata. The officials took the action based on a complaint, alleging that the statue was placed there without permission.
An Integrated BJP Virudhunagar district headquarters was recently inaugurated in the Virudhunagar-Madurai-Kanyakumari National Highway near the district collector’s office. The office was inaugurated by national party president JP Nadda during his last visit to Tamil Nadu earlier this year.
Statue at BJP office
While carrying out some leftover constructions and pending interior works, local BJP functionaries decided to install a statue of Bharat Mata ahead of BJP state president K Annamalai’s padayatra ‘En Mann, En Makkal’, which is supposed to enter the district between August 9 and 11.
Accordingly, a tall statue made of black stone was placed in front of the entrance door inside the premises of the BJP district headquarters on Monday morning.
Installed without proper permission
Police After learning about the incident, local police rushed to the spot on Monday afternoon. Stating that such a statue cannot be placed without seeking necessary permissions from authorities concerned, the officials warned the party members to immediately have it removed. According to the officials, the BJP district functionaries and cadre refused to take it down, arguing that the plot had proper documentation and belonged to the district BJP and stating that it was the party’s internal matter.
After an hour-long argument between the Virudhunagar police and the district BJP members, both sides came to an understanding. Based on an agreement, the party workers agreed to wrap up the statue until they visited the local police station on Tuesday morning to seek proper permission to install the statue in the office premises. After being assured by the BJP members, the police left the premises on Monday afternoon.
Removal of statue with no harm
Accordingly, the statue was wrapped up as agreed when the police arrived along with district revenue officials past Monday midnight. Officials reportedly used a high-end tool to break open the gate of the building and attempted to remove the statue. More than 60 police personnel were deployed at the premises for further security. When the BJP functionaries questioned this, an argument broke out between both the sides. Stressing that they cannot allow the statue to stay there, officials carried the statue to the district tahsildar’s office.
DMK behind the act: BJP
Commenting on the incident, a BJP functionary said, ‘If the police took this action despite coming to an agreement, it is very obvious that they want to try and stop the entry of our leader Annamalai into the district for his padayatra. We are pretty sure that the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) is behind this, and they are using the police and the revenue officials for their political vendetta. The police cannot get away with this act. They are answerable to us. We just want to say that nothing and nobody can stop our thalaivar (leader) Annamalai from completing his padayatra successfully in Virudhunagar. It’s just shocking and shameful that people cannot even install a Bharat Mata statue on their own will in this state.’
By ASC Priya