K Annamalai.
Credit: Instagram/@annamalai_kuppusamy
Chennai: BJP Tamil Nadu unit president K Annamalai on Sunday said the DMK government has accorded sanction to prosecute him for recalling an event of 1956 that involved DMK founder C N Annadurai and freedom fighter Muthuramalinga Thevar.
Tagging a copy of the government sanction, Annamalai, in a post on 'X', said: "In the last 3 years, the draconian DMK Govt has filed plenty of cases against me & our BJP Karyakarthas for speaking the truth & has recently issued a sanction to prosecute me yet again. Now, the sanction was to prosecute him for 'recalling an event in the past," he said.
Furthermore, Annamalai said: "I wholeheartedly thank the DMK Govt for allowing us to recall what Deivathirumaganar Pasumpon Muthuramalinga Thevar said in 1956, which they wish to erase from people's memories. Our message to the DMK Govt: You can't stop us from exposing what is what. File as many cases as you want!"
The sanction of prosecution for alleged hate speech has been given under Section 196 of the CrPc, which deals with cognizance of offences against the state and the prior sanction of the Central or the State government for offences such as promotion of enmity (Sec 153 A, IPC).
The order says the District Collector of Salem had written to the government on a plea from a resident (social activist) V Piysuh requesting sanction for prosecution under Sec 196 CrPc as mandated by law. Following consideration, the order said sanction for prosecution is accorded for offences including promotion of enmity.
On September 11, 2023, leading a demonstration against Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Minister P K Sekar Babu for his participation in the 'Sanatana Dharma' eradication conference here, Annamalai had made a comment on Annadurai.
The BJP leader said Anna had in the 1950s made a critical remark in Madurai against the Hindu faith at an event, and that it was staunchly opposed by freedom fighter Pasumpon Muthuramalinga Thevar.
Days after, Annamalai insisted that he did not speak ill of Anna and had only mentioned an event from the pages of history and the manner in which Muthuramalinga Thevar had defended Sanatana Dharma.
To substantiate his claim, the BJP leader said, he had copies of news reports that appeared in the month of June in 1956 in a top national English daily.'Anyone may read. It was a 10-day Tamil Sangam event.'
The Saffron party leader asked if he could not stand in defence of 'Sanatana Dharma' what use was there in him holding the position of state unit chief of the BJP.
"Look at history as history. I am very clear. Nowhere will I belittle anyone. I did not insult or underestimate anyone, anywhere; history should be spoken as it was and if it is not liked (by some people), it's okay," he had said last year.
Muthuramalinga Thevar (1908-1963), a freedom fighter, was a noted Forward Bloc leader as well. DMK founder Annadurai (1909-1969) is popularly known as Anna (elder brother).