After former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader K Annamalai launched a tirade against the Centre over the crackdown on protests against the ongoing Special Intensive Revision, the party hit back at him for switching his earlier stance on the SIR.
Annamalai, who slammed the government and police response to protests and the detention of Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) activists, was accused of double standards as BJP claimed he had earlier defended the electoral roll revision exercise.
His remarks followed the arrest of CJP leaders Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka , who were released on Wednesday after seven days in custody. The BJP on Wednesday hit back at former party leader Annamalai over his criticism of the Centre’s handling of protests by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), accusing him of inconsistency and overlooking alleged violations of the law. Annamalai’s criticism of the BJP-led government came months after he left the party in June this year. He was met with a sharp response from Tamil Nadu spokesperson Narayanan Thirupathy, who accused Annamalai of double standards on the issue of SIR. Thirupathy also condemned Annamalai’s questions against Delhi Police, saying he should understand the demands of maintaining law and order as a former IPS officer.
In an X post on Wednesday, the former Tamil Nadu BJP president alleged that those raising their voice against the government could be “jailed indefinitely” or “labelled anti-nationals or foreign agents”. Annamalai further said that while he did not approve of the tactics used by CJP, he was “completely” in support of the questions they want to raise in regards to the electoral process. Defending police action, the BJP leader said, “Annamalai’s questions deliberately blur the line between peaceful protest and deliberate law-breaking.
Annamalai slams Centre’s response to protests
Annamalai, who was an IPS officer before he joined politics, has backed the citizens’ right to protest and question the government. All agencies don’t report to the opposition parties in the country. All the embassies outside are equipped with enough people to track any Indian national in hand in glove with foreign enemies. It’s honestly very tiring and boring to see all protests and statements against the central government being called as anti-national and funded by forces outside.
“In 2011, the then Chief Minister of Gujarat, Narendra Modi, stated that if his hands had not been tied, he would have gone to Delhi and waged a war against the Central government.
In my opinion, what the Hon PM said then was absolutely right, and there is nothing wrong about it”. “If you question the violation of due process of law in a democracy, you would be called names, and a barrage of attacks would follow, including being labelled a Foreign Agent,” Annamalai said in his post. Training is guns on the Centre, he said, “FCRA is controlled by MHA. BJP spokesperson Thirupathy said Annamalai had previously defended the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, arguing that fake voters needed to be removed, but had now backed concerns raised by the Congress and CJP.
