Congress president Rahul Gandhi triggered a major political row when he accused the RSS and Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the violence that engulfed Tuticorin, or Thoothukudi, on Tuesday which left 12 people dead and scores injured.
Reacting to the incident, the 47-year-old Gandhi tweeted in Tamil on his official Twitter account in which he claimed that “Tamilians” were “massacred” because they refused to tow the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh line.
“Tamilians have been massacred because they refused to accept Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS’s) ideologies. The RSS and Prime Minister Narendra Modi have been opposed by Tamil Nadu. Also, people of Tamil Nadu cannot be suppressed. Dear Tamil brothers and sisters, we are with you,” he tweeted.
தமிழர்கள் படுகொலை செய்யப்படுகின்றனர், ஏனென்றால் அவர்கள் ஆர் எஸ்.எஸ் சித்தாந்தத்திற்கு அடிபணிய மறுக்கின்றனர். ஆர்.எஸ்.எஸ் மற்றும் மோடியின் தோட்டாக்களால் ஒருபோதும் தமிழ் மக்களின் உணர்வுகளை
நசுக்க முடியாது. தமிழ் சகோதர சகோதரிகளே , நாங்கள் உங்களுடன் இருக்கிறோம்.#SterliteProtest— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) May 23, 2018
His remarks were received with scorn by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
At a press conference, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra mocked Gandhi saying that he has inherited the Congress president’s post but “wisdom and intelligence cannot be inherited”.
“Milking a situation which is tense and sad, Rahul Gandhi is trying to derive some political mileage out of it,” said Patra referring to the situation in Tuticorin, adding, “Rahul Gandhi are you aware of the fact that law & order is a state subject?”
“In a way, Rahul Gandhi is trying to hide behind wheel of RSS because he sees this as the best excuse to hide his own failures,” said Patra underlining the election defeats of the Congress under Gandhi’s leadership.
After the deaths of nine people on Tuesday during a police firing, Gandhi had called the Tuticorin incident “state sponsored terrorism”.
“The gunning down by the police of 9 people in the #SterliteProtest in Tamil Nadu, is a brutal example of state sponsored terrorism. These citizens were murdered for protesting against injustice. My thoughts & prayers are with the families of these martyrs and the injured,” he had tweeted.
Opposition leaders in Tamil Nadu have criticised the police action and the AIADMK-led state government in strong words.
Earlier on Wednesday, leader of the Opposition and DMK working president MK Stalin questioned police action against the protesters in Tuticorin.
“Who ordered the police firing on protestors? Why were automatic weapons used to disperse the crowd and under what law is this permitted? Why were rubber/ plastic bullets or other means NOT used to avoid fatal injuries? Why was no warning given before firing? #SterliteProtest,” wrote Stalin on Twitter.
Where does the final accountability lie for the brutal murder of at least 11 Tamils? Will @CMOTamilNadu take action against DGP for failing to maintain law and order? Will Chief Secretary explain her role in this entire episode? Will there be justice for #SterliteProtest ?
— M.K.Stalin (@mkstalin) May 23, 2018
The Tamil Nadu government on Tuesday had ordered a judicial inquiry into the police firing in Tuticorin. The inquiry will be conducted by a retired judge.
Expressing his condolences on the deaths, Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami announced a compensation of Rs 10 lakh to the kin of the deceased and a job for a suitable family member. He also announced Rs 3 lakh for those seriously injured and Rs 1 lakh each for the other injured.
But actor-turned-politician Kamal Haasan, who met some of those injured during the violence at the General Hospital in the city on Wednesday, said that no amount of compensation given to those who had died would be enough.
Haasan consoled grieving relatives who asked him repeatedly to see what the state government had done to their dear ones. He claimed that the shooting was engineered to “satisfy someone” and demanded that it is important to know “who ordered to shoot yesterday”.
Superstar Rajinikanth, who, too, has made clear his political ambitions, condemned the police action and the state government in a video posted on Twitter.
Read More: Tuticorin protests: Rajinikanth slams govt on video, Kamal Haasan booked for violating Sec 144
While 11 people lost their lives by the end of Tuesday, another man was killed in fresh police firing on the protesters demonstrating against the Sterlite Copper plant in Tuticorin on Wednesday.
Read More: Anti-Sterlite stir | Toll 12 as another man killed in police firing
Reports of clashes between protesters and security personnel continued to be reported from the coastal town of Tamil Nadu. The number of injured, which was 65 including policemen, has also gone up following the fresh agitation.
The body of the man killed in firing, and those injured have been rushed to a government hospital.
Enraged over Tuesday’s killings, protesters took to the streets and showered stones and brickbats at police, prompting security personnel to open fire at Anna Nagar, said officials.
The protest had entered its 100th day on Tuesday. The agitators have been demanding the closure of the Sterlite copper plant run by the Vedanta Group over pollution concerns.
Read More: Protests against Sterlite plant in Tuticorin | All you need to know
According to them, all water bodies in the region have been contaminated by the pollution generated by the unit. As a result, they claim, many of them are facing severe health problems. Environment activists agree with the locals.
Earlier on Wednesday, the Madras High Court stayed the expansion of the Sterlite Copper plant in the besieged city.
Read More: Madras High Court stays expansion for Sterlite plant in Thoothukudi