Police, revenue officials remove Bharat Mata statue from Tamil Nadu BJP office
The statue was installed at the district party headquarters ahead of Tamil Nadu BJP chief K Annamalai’s ‘En Mann, En Makkal’ padayatra entering the Virudhunagar district.
Police and revenue officials removed a newly installed Bharat Mata statue from the BJP's party office in Tamil Nadu's Virudhunagar district on the intervening night of Monday and Tuesday.
Party leaders had installed the statue of Bharat Mata, made of black stone, at the district party headquarters ahead of Tamil Nadu BJP chief K Annamalai’s ‘En Mann, En Makkal’ padayatra entering Virudhunagar between August 9 and 11. The party has condemned the removal of the statue.
Senior officials told India Today that the statue was installed without taking prior permission and was against a directive of the High Court and an order issued by the government. Further, the authorities said the BJP workers were asked to remove the statue by the revenue officials but they refused to follow the orders.
Visuals of the removal showed a police official scaling the wall of the BJP office and opening one of the gates for other officials to enter.
Condemning the incident, Tamil Nadu BJP chief K Annamalai said, “Under the corrupt DMK government in Tamil Nadu, there is no right even to install a statue of Bharat Mata in a place owned by a party. This move is the result of the fear of two DMK ministers from the district as our ‘En Mann, En Makkal’ yatra has been exposing the corruption of the DMK government."
The Virudhunagar BJP headquarters was one among the ten party offices that were inaugurated by BJP national president JP Nadda earlier in March this year.
