PMK projects Veerappan as icon, Jaya fumes

AIADMK leader and Chief Minister J Jayalalitha on Monday slammed the PMK and its social base, the OBC-based Vanniyar Sangam, for projecting the slain forest brigand Veerappan, a Vanniyar, as an youth icon at the Vanniyar Youth Cultural Festival at Mamallapuram on April 25.

While disclosing in the Tamil Nadu (TN) Assembly that the police have filed a case against PMK chief Dr S Ramadoss for overshooting the 10 pm deadline for winding up the event, Jayalalitha asked, “How could they splash Veerappan’s photos on banners and posters if Dr Ramadoss claims to guide the youth into constructive channels?“Does he want the youth to follow in the steps of the sandalwood smuggler?”

Jayalalitha gave a detailed reply to a query raised by opposition parties in the Assembly on the incidents of violence between two communities at Marakkanam, near Mamallapuram, which led to a tense situation on the East Coast Road. The police had to use teargas shells to bring the situation under control. Stating that the police had handled the situation deftly and with a lot of patience, the chief minister wondered how the PMK leader, who wants total prohibition of alcohol in TN, was shaping his youth cadres when a “large number of them who came to the festival had consumed liquor?”
Tension was sparked off by an allegedly provocative act by a small group of Vanniyar youths in an inebriated state en route to the festival with members of the local Dalit colony.

With the venue being close to the ancient Shore Temple, Jayalalitha pointed out that the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) officials, who are responsible for maintenance of heritage structures, had written in their report on the situation at 6 pm on the day of the festival that: “Lakhs of people had swarmed inside the monument, damaging the fencing, lawn, garden, and climbed the historical Shore Temple and hoisted flags and are sitting on the monument. Our (ASI) officials were subjected to virtual harassment by the local groups, and the monument has been exposed to vandalism and destruction.”

The state government will not tolerate any attempt to incite violence on the basis of caste or religion, Jayalalitha asserted. The chief minister pointed out that Dr Ramadoss had even dared the police to “file a case against him” for speaking beyond the 10 pm deadline.  “The police only went by his own words and have filed a case and hope he will face the consequences,” Jayalalitha told the Assembly.