With back-to-back incidents of communal distrust surfacing, the state government is contemplating a new law to protect communal harmony in the state.
A Catholic priest Father George Ponniah was booked by the Tamil Nadu Police over hate speech at Kanyakumari in a public function on July 18 in which he made disparaging remarks against ‘Bharat Mata’ and Hindu religion. After a complaint was lodged by the state BJP, the Arumanai police booked him under various sections of the Indian Penal Code.
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Kuzhithurai condemned the speech of the priest and distanced themselves from him.
After an idol of Lord Vinayaka was found allegedly by a few miscreants at a barren land in Tiruchengode near a Catholic church on Monday, police intervened and removed the idol. This led to slogan shouting and stone-pelting but the immediate intervention of the police and taken into custody around 20 persons fizzled out the situation.
With such incidents coming up in the state, the Tamil Nadu state minority commission chairman Peter Alphonse suggested to the government to bring in a new law to protect communal harmony.
The minority commission chairman also said that the new law would be a model to the rest of the country and called upon the government to immediately bring about legislation for the same.
The suggestion of Peter Alphonse is being seriously taken by the state government and Chief Minister M.K. Stalin has directed the state law department to immediately study all aspects and to report to him in a few day’s time.
While the legislation may not be brought up during the Budget Session of the state Assembly commencing from August 13, the seriousness of the Chief Minister is a clear indicator that the government would bring in such legislation within the next couple of months’ time.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister has announced an ambitious plan to bring about an investment of Rs 1,00,000 crore in the state and making it the largest investment destination of South Asia. With such an ambitious plan in mind, the Chief Minister, according to DMK sources wants to bring about the legislation to prevent any communal skirmishes in the state thus diverting the investment the state has been planning to.
S. Raghupathy, Minister for Law told IANS, “The government is in fact thinking on such a proposition. We are studying all aspects of the same and then a decision will be made.”