The BJP on Saturday alleged that the Director General of Police, Tamil Nadu, was diverting the issue of the murders of leaders and activists of the Sangh Parivar. “let them arrest the real culprits. let them arrest the group of persons behind these murders and the conspiracy. What they have done is to arrest some innocent persons,” State BJP president Pon Radhakrishnan said here on Saturday.
Radhakrishnan was reacting to the statement released by K Ramanujam, the DGP on Friday claiming action has been taken by the police in the cases of murders and attacks on Hindu leaders and activists in the State. Ramanujam had claimed in the statement that swift action has been taken by the police to arrest the culprits behind the murders of the Hindu leaders.
But the BJP is not amused by the claims of the DGP. The party saw red in the claim of Ramanujam that in most of the murders the culprits belonged to the same religion as that of the victims. “Some cases were due to personal motive. In some cases the accused and the victim belonged to the same religion. Statements seeking to create an impression that a number of targeted attacks have gone unchecked or that the police have failed to take action are misleading and contrary to truth,” the DGP had said in his statement.
But Radhakrishnan said the statement was a move to pre-empt the visit of the BJP’s central delegation to Tamil Nadu. “The statement was issued on Friday to coincide with the visit of Prakash Javadekar Ananat Hegde and Nirmala Sitharaman to Chennai to call on the State Home Secretary. The DGP is diverting the attention of the people from real issues,” Radhakrishnan told reporters here.
He also alleged that there was a move to belittle and dilute the intensity of the crimes when the victims happen to be from the majority community. “Though it is nearly a month since Vellaiyappan was murdered, not a single person has been arrested. There are disturbing trends in the series of murders committed by extremist elements in TN,” he said. The BJP chief said he does not have anything against the Chief Minister. “But the action of the police could influence the good reputation of the Chief Minister,” he said.