Summon, arrest and video: BJP's triple whammy in TN

Monday was a day of triple whammy for the BJP in Tamil Nadu.

Its firebrand leader H Raja was summoned to appear before the Madras High Court on October 22, a cadre was arrested for throwing a pair of shoes at the statue of Periyar E V Ramasamy and a video showing party workers dragging an auto rickshaw driver who asked "uncomfortable" questions to their state chief by his head emerged.

Raja, the most vocal face of the BJP in Tamil Nadu who lands in a controversy almost every day, was summoned by a division bench of the Madras High Court for using a derogatory word against the judiciary during an argument with police personnel in Pudukkottai district on Saturday.

Though the second bench of the Madras High Court comprising Justice Huluvadi G Ramesh and K Kalyanasundaram refused to initiate suo moto proceedings against Raja for his comments on judiciary, another bench of Justices C T Selvam and M Nirmal Kumar took serious note of the remarks and ordered a notice to Raja asking him to appear before it and explain his remarks.

"Any attempt at creating a dent in this most revered pillar of our democratic system could lead to promotion of fascism,naxalism & all that is opposed to democracy...We Judges are but cogwheels in the administration of justice till we have done our time and wane away. It is the majesty of this institution, the superior courts and courts below which is paramount and it is this that we seek to uphold," the judges said in their order summoning Raja to appear before them.

While the Tamil Nadu BJP unit quickly distancing itself from the shoe-throwing incident, it went silent on the other two since their top leaders were directly involved in them.

Video recordings show Kathir, an auto driver, seeking to know from Tamilisai Soundararajan on why petrol prices were skyrocketing every day and BJP cadres shoving him off from the site even as the state BJP chief rolls her eyes and continued answering questions from journalists in Saidapet on Sunday evening.

Speaking to DH, theautorickshaw driver said he had gone to the venue where Tamilisai was attending an event and just sought to know prices of fuel are on the increase.

"I expressed my anguish as an auto rickshaw driver since we are badly affected by the increase in price of petrol and diesel. The moment I asked the question, BJP cadre dragged me by my head and even manhandled me before they handed me over to the police outside the event. Is it a crime to ask questions to Tamilisai or a BJP leader," he asked.

Though the BJP cadre handed him over to police, Kathir was let off immediately.

Monday also saw D Jagadeesan, an advocate who claims to be a BJP cadre, being arrested for throwing a pair of shoes at the Periyar statue on the arterial Anna Salai in Chennai as the area was decorated with flowers to commemorate 140th birth anniversary of the social reformer.

The police arrested Jagadeesan and slapped a case against him under various charges, including trying to incite violence and create enmity between two sections.