Puducherry: A BJP functionary here received a bleeding injury in stone-throwing allegedly indulged in by the cadres of some Dalit outfits, including the VCK and Periyar Dravida Kazhagam, who were upset over some ‘saffron’ remarks against the late B. R. Ambedkar whose 58th death anniversary was observed on Saturday.
According to police, Puducherry general secretary T. Ilanchezhian of the Hindu Munnani in his speech at a rally to press for building the Ram temple at Ayodhya said even Ambedkar had supported Buddhism because of its Indian origin rather than Islam and Christianity, which were alien faiths.
A procession of some Dalit outfits was passing by on its way to garland the nearby Ambedkar statue and some of the Dalit leaders got upset thinking that Ilanchezhian was insulting Ambedkar. The police pushed them away and prevented outbreak of violence.A little leader, BJP general secretary V. Swaminathan with party members marched to the Ambedkar statue to offer garlands but was prevented by the Dalit outfits shouting that the saffron party had no right to go anywhere near their late leader’s statue after Ilanchezhian’s insult.
Again the police intervened to prevent law and order situation but some Dalits indulged in stone-throwing. BJP’s traders’ wing president V. Selvam was hit by a stone and was rushed to hospital with a bleeding injury. He was treated as an outpatient and sent home after first-aid, police said.They said a case has been registered but no arrests made.
In Chennai, VCK president Thol. Thirumavalavan led a large group of party followers to garland Ambedkar’s statue at Koyambedu.His party members garlanded the Ambedkar statues across Tamil Nadu. Leaders of all the other parties too paid respects to Ambedkar, one of the greatest sons of India.
