Monday’s Statewide bandh call given by the BJP in protest against the murder of the party’s Tamil Nadu secretary V Ramesh evoked mixed reaction.
While the bandh was near total in BJP strongholds like Kanyakumari and Coimbatore districts, it did not evoke much response in Chennai, the capital city. Hundreds of party workers led by senior leaders like l Ganeshan, CP Radhakrishnan, H Raja courted arrest from various places in the State. Interestingly, the Pattali Makkal Katchi led by S Ramdoss had extended support to the BJP’s bandh. Normal life was affected in places like Krishnagiri and Dharmapuri, the PMK strongholds. “The PMK and Ramdoss are always against political murder and vandalism. Our support was to express solidarity with Ramesh as well as the BJP,” a close confidante of Ramdoss told The Pioneer.
He also pointed out that the PMK chief was the first non-BJP leader to condemn the murder of Ramesh immediately after the incident. Ramdoss, who was arrested in connection with riots in the East Coast Road, during the April 2013 rally of the PMK, had said after his release from jail that Hindus were unsafe in Tamil Nadu. Meanwhile, sources in the Tamil Nadu Police said the probe was on to identify murderers of Ramesh. “We have got certain information, which points to the involvement of Islamic extremists in the murder. We are not in a position to furnish details,” said a senior police official. The bandh was comparatively peaceful and no untoward incident was reported from anywhere. Krishnagiri district saw some of the buses coming under pelting of stones by some miscreants.