NEW DELHI, Mar 15: The Madras High Court on Friday ordered the Tamil Nadu Police to permit the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s four kilometre long roadshow in Coimbatore on Monday albeit with certain conditions.
Police Friday morning had refused permission, citing law-and-order concerns and the conduct of a public exam. The cops also said permission had been refused to other political parties as well and there was no question of targeting any side.
The court pointed out state apparatus had a minimal role in securing rallies or events attended by the Prime Minister, who is guarded by the Special Protection Group. The police, though, said insisted they assume “equal responsibility.”
The Prime Minister this weekend is spearheading a mega outreach to the southern states – which have traditionally rejected the BJP – weeks ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha election.
The PM, who has set the BJP a target of 370 seats in this election – is on his fifth Tamil Nadu visit, and has taken on the ruling DMK and its INDIA allies, including the Congress, pitching himself as an icon of development.
The BJP has a negligible presence in Tamil Nadu but has a relatively stronger presence in Coimbatore, a region that has seen communally sensitive law-and-order developments, particularly the serial bomb blasts in the city in 1998, which targeted senior BJP leader LK Advani. Nearly 60 people died in those blasts.
In the last general election the BJP got a less than three per cent vote-share and, this time around, is without a major ally after the AIADMK’s acrimonious exit. The broken BJP-AIADMK relationship has not, however, stopped the PM from reaching out to his ex-allies; earlier this week he praised AIADMK icon and ex-Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa.
The AIADMK, though, has shown no signs of thawing and is insistent it will fight for Tamil Nadu’s 39 Lok Sabha seats on its own. The BJP-AIADMK tie-up has not had good results for the state party, which has lost to fierce rivals DMK in the last two major polls. The BJP has also reached out to smaller Tamil parties, including S Ramadoss’ PMK and DMDK of late actor-politician Vijaykanth.
(Manas Dasgupta)
