A day after Tamil Nadu Bharatiya Janata Paty chief K. Annamalai held the ruling DMK party responsible for the ongoing alleged attacks on the migrant labourers, police booked him on charges of inciting violence and promoting enmity between groups on Sunday.
The BJP leader was booked under sections 153, 153A (1) (a), 505 (1) (b) and 505 (1) (c) of the Indian Penal Code.
In the wake of 'fake' reports being spread on migrant workers being attacked in Tamil Nadu (TN), Governor R.N. Ravi on Sunday appealed to the people to remain calm. TN people are nice and friendly, he said.
On Friday, several videos of Hindi speaking migrant workers being brutally thrashed went viral on Twitter in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
The workers need not panic, the Raj Bhavan said in a tweet on Sunday.
"Governor urged the North Indian labourers in Tamil Nadu not to panic and feel insecure, as the people of Tamil Nadu are very nice and friendly, and the state government is committed to provide them security," Raj Bhavan said on its official Twitter handle.
On Saturday, Chief Minister M. K. Stalin had assured his Bihar counterpart Nitish Kumar all migrant labourers in the state were safe and that the police had registered cases against two journalists of a Hindi daily for spreading rumours.
Deposed AIADMK leader O. Panneerselvam said the state government was duty-bound to ensure the safety of the migrant workers and at the same time see to it that youth belonging to Tamil Nadu get employment in companies located in the state.
While talking to the media, Bihar Deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav said that the Bihar government is serious in this matter and they have sent a team to Tamil Nadu to look into the matter.
Some districts in TN have issued helpline numbers for migrant workers, Yadav added.
A statement earlier released by Annamalai said that the migrants are safe in Tamil Nadu but the Chief Minister Stalin led-Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and its allies are the reason for the hate against thm .
He had also said that the Tamils do not support 'separatism' and 'vile hatred' against North Indians.
"It is disheartening to see fake news spread in social media about attacks on migrant workers in Tamil Nadu. We, the Tamil people, believe in the concept of 'World is One' and do not endorse the separatism and vile hatred against our North Indian friends," said Annamalai in one of his tweets.
Besides Annamalai, three people from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar were booked by the Tamil Nadu police under IPS 153 (A), 596 (i)(b), 153 (b), 505 (ii)(b) and IT 56 (D) based on three separate complaints. Prashant Patel Umrao, a BJP spokesperson from Uttar Pradesh who works as the Standing Counsel in the supreme Court for the Goa government, an unnamed editor of the Dainik Bhaskar from Bihar and a small-time journalist Mohammed Tanvir from Bihar were booked under the Information Technology Act for spreading “fake news” and offences relating to promoting enmity and disharmony.
