The BJP’s State president, L. Murugan, courted arrest in Hosur on Tuesday upon reaching the district on his ‘Vetrivel Yatra’, which had been banned by the State government. The party’s former national secretary, H. Raja, courted arrest in Krishnagiri while addressing a similar yatra led by him.
Defying the ban, Mr. Murugan, clad in a saffron shirt and green dhoti, with his forehead smeared with ash, made a dramatic entry, wielding a Vel (spear), amid chants of ‘ Vetri Vel - Veera Vel ’ and ‘ Bharat mata ki jai ’. He was accompanied by party vice-president K. Annamalai. Mr. Murugan, who addressed a public meeting, dubbed the yatra a “fitting response to the denigration of our Tamil God and Tamil culture by the DMK and the Karuppar Kootam (referring to the Kanda Sashti Kavacham controversy)”. He claimed that the yatra will “rip the mask off the face of [DMK chief] Stalin”.
“This yatra will culminate at Thiruchendur on December 6, and no force can stop it,” he said. “Periyar was falsely projected as having fought for women’s liberation. On the contrary, he enslaved women,” . He frequented brothels and asked his wife to cook food and send it across for his revelry,” Mr. Raja claimed. Mr. Raja also dubbed both Periyar and DMK patriarch Annadurai ‘anti-nationals’ and ‘traitors’. He claimed that the country was being “swept by the BJP wave”, and that Tamil Nadu will see this wave in May 2021, referring to the upcoming elections.
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Later, the BJP leader was arrested and detained along with party cadre.