Tamil Nadu: Christians object to BJP State President Annamalai Entering a Church
Chennai: BJP State President K Annamalai had a faceoff with a group of young members of a Roman Catholic church in B Pallipatti in Dharmapuri district on Tuesday as they heckled him and objected to his entering the shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes and garlanding the idol.
Resuming his ‘En Mann En Makkal’ (my land, my people) yatra at Dharmapuri, Annamali went to the church at B Pallipatti village on the way when the youth raised slogans against him, leading to a heated exchange of words between the protestors and the BJP leader, who questioned their right to stop him from entering the church.
The video of the noisy altercation went viral with some television and YouTube channels carrying stories on the incident, in which the BJP State President is seen trying to pacify the agitated youth by placing his hands on their shoulders and telling them that anyone can worship at a church.
The gathering of youth asked him about Manipur riots with pointed questions like ‘why did you kill Christians?’ Annamalai tried to explain to them that it was a fight between two tribes and that religion had no role in the conflict.
But the youth said that it was the BJP that was in power in that State and that it did nothing to stop the killing of Christians. Annamalai told them not to talk like the DMK and asserted his right to entry into the church.
Though police swooped in to remove the angry youth and facilitated Annamalai to step in and pay floral tribes to the idol, the incident became a talking point as the yatra that was flagged off on July 28, 2023, from Rameswaram by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, had not seen any such skirmishes so far.
The incident also assumes significance since Annamalai, all through his yatra and even otherwise, had been projecting him as a friend of the minorities and had even arranged meetings with some of them.
The open protest by the youth telling him to not enter a church, which normally does not bar anyone’s entry, only sent across the message to Annamalai that not all his hunky dory in the State as he had tried to claim.
