Police book Tamil Nadu BJP chief Annamalai

Chennai: Tamil Nadu BJP president K Annamalai has been booked by the state police  following his accusation that the ruling DMK party was responsible for the ongoing stir over alleged attacks on migrant labourers in the state.

The Cyber Crime Division have booked the BJP state unit chief under sections of inciting violence and promoting enmity between groups among others, an ANI report said. As per officials, a case is also registered against the BJP Bihar Twitter account holder over the incident.

Besides, Annamalai, the Tamil Nadu police have also booked four persons including a BJP spokesperson Prashant Umrao and two journalists.

Prashant Umrao, an Editor with Dainik Bhaskar, a Patna-based journalist, owner of ‘Tanvir Post’ Twitter handle Mohammad Tanvir, and Shubam Shukla were booked at different police stations on the charges of spreading “false” news regarding attacks on migrant labourers in Tamil Nadu.

A statewide panic was created among migrant workers, working in Tamil Nadu, after several purported videos, showing attacks on migrant workers, circulated on social media. The panic affected the industries in Tamil Nadu, which rely on migrant workers, badly as many workers stayed off work.

Taking cognizance of the panic, Tamil Nadu’s Director General of Police Sylendra Babu released a statement, saying that the video doing rounds of social media was “false” and “mischievous”. “Somebody in Bihar posted false and mischievous videos saying that migrant workers were attacked in Tamil Nadu. Two videos were posted. Both are false as these incidents happened at an earlier date in Tiruppur and Coimbatore. One was a clash between two groups of migrant workers from Bihar while another was from a clash between two local residents in Coimbatore,” the top cop said.

Tamil Nadu Governor R N Ravi on Sunday sought to assuage any apprehensions of migrant workers in Tamil Nadu in the wake of alleged rumours of some of them being attacked in the state, saying the TN people were nice and friendly.

The workers need not panic, the Raj Bhavan said in tweets posted in Tamil, English and Hindi.

”Governor urged the North Indian labourers in Tamil Nadu not to panic and feel insecure, as the people of Tamil Nadu are very nice and friendly, and the state government is committed to provide them security,” Rj Bhavan said on its official Twitter handle.

Annamalai yesterday released a statement on the migrant labourers’ issue saying they are safe in Tamil Nadu but the Chief Minister Stalin led-Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and its alliance party leaders are the reason for the hate against them.

He also opposed the spread of false news on the attack on the people from Bihar in the state, saying that Tamils don’t support “separatism” and “vile hatred” against north Indians.

“It is disheartening to see fake news spread in social media about attacks on Migrant workers in Tamil Nadu. We, the Tamil people, believe in the concept of “The World is One” and do not endorse the separatism and vile hatred against our North Indian friends,” Annamalai said in a series of tweets.

Hitting out at the state government, he said, “DMK’s MPs’ vile comments on North Indians, DMK minister calling them Panipuri Wala, and their alliance partners demanding their exodus has triggered what we see today.”

He further said that the people, the Government and the police, do not endorse the views of DMK and their alliance partners.

(With ANI and PTI inputs)