Tamilnadu is boiling once again, as the suicide of a female student stoked a massive row in the state. The BJP and several Hindu organizations are claiming that her death was triggered by an attempt to forcibly convert her to Christianity, and they have initiated a massive protest to deliver justice to the girl’s family.
Lavanya, the girl of a missionary school in Thanjavur consumed poison on January 9 and died on January 19. Based on her declaration, the Thirukattupalli police arrested and remanded the school hostel warden. Following the death, the Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, which runs the school in which the girl had studied, denied the allegation of forced conversion.
The local media and other big media houses went one step ahead and gave a clean chit to the missionary and shamelessly accused the girl. The Time of India Times even refused to mention that the girl committed suicide because she was being forced to convert.
However, under the leadership of Tamilnadu BJP Chief K Annamalai, the party has staged a day-long fast agitation at Valluvar Kottam here on January 25 demanding justice to the girl and also a CBI probe into her death besides legislation for anti-conversion to prevent forcible conversions in the state.
Taking this fight a notch higher, the BJP national president J P Nadda has constituted a four-member committee to ascertain the facts leading to a 17-year-old girl student’s death by suicide, and submit a report to him soon.
The panel, comprised Parliamentarian Sandhya Ray from Madhya Pradesh, Vijayashanti from Telangana, Chitra Tai Wagh of Maharashtra, and Geetha Vivekananda of Karnataka. This team will visit Thanjavur to ascertain the facts.
People are praising the efforts of BJP Tamilnadu chief K Annamalai, as he has single-handedly taken this issue to the national level and forced the Tamilnadu government to initiate an action against the culprits. The initial response of the Tamilnadu government and administration was tepid and they were not ready to take any action but the table has been turned now.
Annamalai – The power to reckon with in Tamilnadu
Annamalai has brought much-needed freshness and determination to the BJP’s Tamilnadu unit. He is a former IPS officer and was appointed as the new president of the BJP’s Tamil Nadu unit last year. He joined the BJP only last August, but he was swiftly elevated to one of the vice presidents of the state unit.
Annamalai is known for his amazing ability to connect with the people as he speaks well in Tamil, Kannada, and English. He served as an IPS officer in Karnataka and was hailed as ‘Singam’ due to his straightforward way of functioning and tough master image. He quit the post in May 2019 and after a year, joined the BJP.
He was born in a farmer’s family in Karur on June 4, 1984, he joined as an IPS officer in 2011 and served in various locations mostly in Karnataka for eight years.
He understands Tamilnadu’s Problems
Annamalai is known for having a tough stance against communalism, conversion mafia, and rioting elements. He understands how Tamilnadu is mired with utterly biased media that spread misinformation and propaganda of missionaries and politicians.
He is exposing how the local media, which is owned by the DMK party, is conning the people by misleading them against BJP and Prime Minister Modi. He is certainly not the kind of politician any journalist can mess around with. He is witty and sharp, and every time someone tries to take him on, he utilizes the opportunity to capitalize upon.
Annamalai is the leader BJP was waiting for a long time. He has made it clear that he won’t behave like a typical Tamil politician. He doesn’t fit in the conventional Dravidian politician mold. His views about forceful conversion, biased media, north-south divide are quite clear and he never shies away from expressing his strong opinions against these false divides and propaganda.
He is certainly a great find for the BJP. He is dynamic, young, and the kind of leader the party needs to awaken people. He is working as a bridge between the BJP party and the Tamil people. Lavanya’s case is one such example, where he understood the concern raised by people and raised this issue with utmost force.
We are hopeful that the victim’s family will get justice soon, and the menace of forceful conversion and missionaries will be taken down soon. Annamalai should also initiate a massive movement to bring the law to penalize forceful conversion in Tamilnadu.
