- Ex-Tamil Nadu Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan criticised DMK after RSS workers were detained in Chennai
- Nearly 50 RSS workers were held for conducting a puja in a state-run school without police permission
- The school headmaster had complained about unauthorised entry, leading to the police action
Ex-Tamil Nadu Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan attacked the state's ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam Thursday after police detained nearly 50 workers from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh - the Bharatiya Janata Party's ideological mentor - for holding a 'guru puja' and a 'shakha' training session in a state-run school in Porur, near Chennai, without permission from the cops.
Police sources told NDTV the headmaster of the school had lodged a complaint after RSS goons entered the building without permission. As a result they were taken into custody, sources said.
A case will be registered against them, sources said.
Criticising Chief Minister MK Stalin's administration for having failed to control the law-and-order situation in the state, Soundararajan questioned the detention of the RSS workers.
"There is no law and order in Tamil Nadu. The government turns a blind eye to anti-social activities (but) RSS workers conducting their programme without sensation (were arrested)."
"I strongly condemn the arrest. This is the mindset of the DMK government. They encourage separatist activities... the workers should be released because it is an auspicious day."
The ex-Governor met the detained RSS workers and expressed moral support.
She said she also spoke to the arresting cops about the reasons for their action.
The political temperature in Tamil Nadu has spiked, and is set to rise further, ahead of next year's Assembly election, particularly after what is traditionally a two-way fight between the two great Dravidian parties - the DMK (allied with the Congress) and AIADMK (the BJP) - were joined by actor-politician Vijay's Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam. The TVK will make its poll debut in 2026.
The law-and-order situation in the state, particularly capital Chennai, has been one of the bigger political talking points, particularly after high-profile rape and sexual assault cases, including one at the famous Anna University in the heart of the city.
Other big talking points are likely to be the 'Hindi imposition' row that flared up earlier this year over the three-language formula of the new National Education Policy.
The RSS' 'puja' in the Tamil Nadu government school was on the occasion of the organisation's 100th centenary celebrations. In his address on the day this morning, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat called for 'differences' between groups and communities to be expressed within the law.
Bhagwat's speech on 'unity in diversity' in India followed that by Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday; the Prime Minister said the "threat from infiltrators (is) causing a demographic shift" and that this posed a "risk to social harmony and internal security".
