Members of the Bharatiya Janatha Party (BJP) on Thursday conducted a protest demonstration and went on a procession towards the Secretariat here demanding the complete closure of liquor outlets in the State.
Anticipating trouble, police personnel conducted a thorough check of all vehicles before they allowed them on Kamarajar Salai. A portion of Wallajah Road and other adjoining roads were closed up to the State Guest House, Chepauk, where the demonstration was held.
BJP activists took out a ‘coffin procession” and party State unit president Tamilisai Soundarajan said it was a “symbolic last procession of Dravidian parties.”
BJP national general secretary P. Muralidhar Rao said his party wanted to make the State healthy. The Dravidian Parties have been aiding the flow of liquor through Tasmac outlets, he blamed.
Students disrupt event
Meanwhile, a group of students disrupted an event organised at the University of Madras demanding, among other things, social justice. The students carried placards and raised slogans against the Bharathiya Janata Party.
L. Ganesan, a member of parliament representing the party, was participating in an event organised to discuss the values propagated by Swami Vivekananda when a small group of students raised slogans. Mr. Ganesan had been invited to speak on his government’s higher education policy at the programme.
The police, however, evicted the students from the hall. Later, Mr. Ganesan said the students were demanding that they be allowed to eat beef. “Their plan was to attract attention to themselves through the media.
They have succeeded in it.I may not agree with their viewpoint but they have the right to express their views,” he said.