Tamil Nadu Governor ups ante on jawan murder, terms it ‘a matter of serious concern’

The tweets came after Ravi had a meeting earlier in the evening of Tuesday, 21 February, with Tamil Nadu BJP state president K Annamalai and a few retired armed forces officers at Raj Bhavan.

The retired armed forces personnel expressed their dejection at the murder of the Krishnagiri-based Prabhu.

The delegation submitted a memorandum to the Governor on the recent lapses of law and  order in the state, and sought his intervention in the matter.

Related: DMK councillor, 8 others arrested for killing a soldier in Krishnagiri

BJP vs DMK

The 14 February death of the jawan has become yet another flashpoint between the ruling DMK and the Opposition BJP, with the Governor yet again weighing in on a law and order matter.

“Earlier, when Stalin was an Opposition leader, a DMK functionary attacked a biriyani shop owner and immediately he went and consoled the victim and said he will not tolerate such attacks. But, in this issue, a serving army man was beaten to death and Stalin is tight-lipped and hasn’t condemned the incident so far,” Tamil Nadu BJP vice president Narayan Tirupathi told South First.

Asked what the party’s grievance was since all the accused in the case had been arrested and remanded in custody, Tirupathi contended the police action was delayed.

“What is the message the ruling DMK government is sending? When the chief minister tweets about the JNU issue, which he was not aware of, why has he not tweeted condemning the murder? It is because the arrested person belongs to DMK”, Tirupathi said.

Stalin had tweeted over the attack on some students from Tamil Nadu by alleged ABVP activists in Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU). The DMK even sent one of its ministers to meet with the students.

People guarding the borders & people who stand by them in times of need are attacked, and the Tamil Nadu Police continue to be a mute spectator to the Anarchy of the DMK government. (4/5) pic.twitter.com/tqWggUkdQw

— K.Annamalai (மோடியின் குடும்பம்) (@annamalai_k) February 21, 2023

Related: BJP begins hunger strike over murder of a jawan

‘Murder being used as political weapon’

A DMK source, however, defended the party, pointing out that Prabhu was killed not because he was a soldier, but because of personal enmity.

“The law has taken its own course in the issue and everyone was arrested,” the source told South First.

The DMK source accused the BJP of using the murder for political gain — as it did in the case of Lavanya, the 17-year-old Thanjavur school girl who died by suicide in January 2022, allegedly on being asked to convert to Christianity by her school.

“There had been several lynches of Dalits, Muslims and even men in uniform. In not even a single instance have the prime minister or the home minister visited to console them. The BJP has no moral stand to speak about such matters and no one needs to teach the DMK how to respect the armed forces,” he added.

BJP holds protest

Meanwhile, on Tuesday, BJP protested against the inaction of the DMK government in the army jawan’s murder and held a candle march towards the war memorial in Chennai.

Annamalai accused Chief Minister Stalin of being tight-lipped on the issue and said the BJP would hand over ₹10 lakh to Lance Naik Prabhu’s wife and take complete care of the education of his two children.

On 8 February, after an altercation broke out between the deceased Prabhu with one Chinnasamy, a DMK ward councilor of Nagojanahalli town panchayat, the latter, along with eight others, attacked Prabhu and his brother Prabhakaran.

Prabhu succumbed to the injuries while undergoing treatment on 14 February. Following this, the police arrested the councilor, his sons, and others on 15 February.