Minority vote-bank politics main reason for terrorism in Tanil Nadu: CP Radhakrishnan

COIMBATORE: In what could be seen as yet another instance of right wing outfits attempting to gain political mileage from terror strikes, leaders of such outfits including BJP's parliamentary candidate CP Radhakrishnan slammed the 'minority appeasement' attitude of state and central governments and Islamic extremists for unleashing a fresh wave of terror through the twin blasts at Chennai Central railway station early Thursday morning. The right wing outfits did not waste any time in staging protests and even attempted rail blocks condemning the government for its 'soft stance' towards minority groups. As many as 302 cadres from various right wing outfits were arrested for staging protests against the Chennai blasts on Thursday. Ironically, the security and law enforcement agencies are yet to issue an official statement regarding the perpetrators of the blast in which a 22-year-old woman techie lost her life and 14 others were injured, two of them with critical injuries.

BJP candidate CP Radhakrishnan issued a press statement in which he slammed Tamil Nadu government for soft pedalling on Islamic terrorists and playing the minority appeasement card just about four hours after the terror strike on Thursday morning. However, when contacted later over telephone, he said Islamic terrorists should be isolated from other members of the Islam community but reiterated that minority vote bank politics was the main reason for the growth of terrorism in Tamil Nadu.

"Everybody knows that there are only two types of terrorism in our country, Naxalism and Islamic terrorism. Jayalalithaa was hard on these extremists from the Muslim community during her previous term but she has gone soft on them during her present term. The government and the police department should take harsh steps to maintain law and order and keep terrorism under control," said CP Radhakrishnan.

By afternoon, members of at least four right wing outfits staged demonstrations and rail blocks in the city demanding immediate action to clamp down on Jihadi elements in the state. They also added that the Chennai strike was the latest in a series of recent incidents including the assault and murder of Hindu outfit leaders in the state including auditor Ramesh in Salem district last year. The arrest of the Lankan national allegedly working for Pakistan's ISI was also raised at the protests citing that Mahenda Rajapakse and Sri Lankan Muslim Congress party were responsible for giving tacit support to Pakistan and its intelligence agency.

"Sri Lanka seems to be the hot bed for ISI activities and there are sleeper cells here in our state to help them. It is all happening because of the vote bank politics. We even doubt whether it was an attempt to indirectly target BJP leader Narendra Modi who is campaigning in Andhra Pradesh," said Arjun Sampath, State President, Hindu Makkal Katchi Tamizhagam before getting arrested for attempting to stage a rail block condemning the Chennai blasts outside Coimbatore Railway junction.

Similar protests were also organised by other outfits including Vivekanandar Peravai, Hindu Munnani and Bharat Sena in the city near Red Cross building and also at Gandhiupuram later in the evening. Meanwhile, city police have stepped up vigil across the city and have been on high alert since Thursday morning.