Over 1,100 members of various Hindu outfits, who held demonstrations defying police ban, in observance of the 1998 Coimbatore bombing day anniversary were arrested by police here on Thursday.
BJP leader H Raja being taken away by cops for staging a demonstration in Coimbatore on Thursday
Coimbatore:
Similarly, members of Hindu Makkal Katchi led by its founder leader Arjun Sampath took a rally from Mettupalayam to pay tributes to those killed in the blast. Around 40 members of the outfit were arrested for taking a rally defying the ban.
Earlier activists from other fringe Hindu outfits also held demonstrations in remembrance of those killed in the blast. At Perur Padithurai, a group of VHP activists shaved their heads and performed rituals for departed souls in a bomb blast. In view of the bomb blast day, more than 1,000 police personnel were deployed in vital installations to prevent any untoward incidents. The serial blasts on February 14, 1998, left over several people dead and over hundreds injured when the Bharatiya Janata Party leader, L K Advani, visited Coimbatore for an election campaign.
Later speaking to media, H Raja said that extremism should be uprooted from Tamil Nadu. “A law should be enforced to ban religious conversions as Ramalingam in Kumbakonam was murdered for questioning attempts for religious conversion,” he said.
Led by BJP leader H Raja, the members of BJP, RSS, VHP and Hindu Munnani, gathered at the four-junction on DB Road in RS Puram. Participating in the demonstration, CP Radhakrishnan Chairman of Coir Board and other leaders condemned the killing of over 50 persons on this day in 1998.
Similarly, members of Hindu Makkal Katchi led by its founder leader Arjun Sampath took a rally from Mettupalayam to pay tributes to those killed in the blast. Around 40 members of the outfit were arrested for taking a rally defying the ban.
Earlier activists from other fringe Hindu outfits also held demonstrations in remembrance of those killed in the blast. At Perur Padithurai, a group of VHP activists shaved their heads and performed rituals for departed souls in a bomb blast. In view of the bomb blast day, more than 1,000 police personnel were deployed in vital installations to prevent any untoward incidents. The serial blasts on February 14, 1998, left over several people dead and over hundreds injured when the Bharatiya Janata Party leader, L K Advani, visited Coimbatore for an election campaign.
Later speaking to media, H Raja said that extremism should be uprooted from Tamil Nadu. “A law should be enforced to ban religious conversions as Ramalingam in Kumbakonam was murdered for questioning attempts for religious conversion,” he said.