Tamil Nadu BJP president K. Annamalai was heckled by a group of protesters as he tried to enter the famed Our Lady of Lourdes shrine in Dharmapuri district and garland an idol of Mary.
Annamalai visited the church in B Pallipatti village after resuming his ‘En Mann En Makkal’ (my land, my people) yatra in the district.
The protesters, expressing solidarity with the Christians killed in the ethnic violence in Manipur, stopped him from garlanding the idol, leading to a heated altercation between the two sides.
“Christians like us were killed in Manipur, you cannot lay your garland here. They killed our people, they destroyed our churches. This is holy ground,” a protester could be heard saying in a video footage of the incident.
“Why did you kill our Christian people?,” the protesters asked the BJP leader.
As the arguments got escalated, Annamalai lost his cool and asked the protesters not to talk to him like DMK men.
“Everyone has the right to come here. What right do you have to stop me? Is the church in your name? If I bring 10,000 people here for a dharna, what will you do?,” he asked, according to The News Minute report.
The BJP leader proceeded with garlanding the idol of Mary after police intervened and dispersed the protesters.
The incident assumes significance since Annamalai has been projecting himself as a friend of the minorities and had even arranged meetings with some of them.
