The attacks on Hindus and the rise of Islamic outfits in Tamil Nadu is nothing new. The state has had the presence of outfits such as Al Umma, Al-Badr and SIMI for long and today all these groups have merged into the Islamic State.
New Delhi, Sep 26: The Tamil Nadu police have issued a stern warning amidst the multiple attacks against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) leaders in the state.
The police said that those involved in such acts would be booked under the stringent provisos of the National Security Act (NSA).
Petrol bombs have been used to attacks BJP and RSS leaders in Coimbatore, Ramanathapuram, Thiruppur, Kanyakumari and Salem. Attacks on functionaries of the RSS and BJP in Tamil Nadu are nothing new.
Islamic State operatives in Karnataka believed India will be free when Caliphate is set up
In 2021, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) had unravelled a deep-rooted conspiracy in Tamil Nadu to kill Hindu leaders. In 2021, the agency arrested one Mohammad Ashiq years after it was learnt that he was part of a conspiracy to kill Hindu leaders in Tamil Nadu. He was one of the seven accused who was part of a group of seven which was part of the Islamic State.
The NIA had also filed a charge sheet against an Islamic State operative from Madurai who goes by the name Mohammad Iqbal alias Senthil Kumar. The probe revealed that the posts on a Facebook "Thoonga Vizhigal Rendu is in Kazimar Street" were uploaded by Iqbal to incite communal disharmony amongst different religious groups, in a manner prejudicial to the maintenance of public order.
He had professed and preached about establishing an Islamic Caliphate and implement the Sharia law in India by overthrowing a non-Islamic government. In furtherance of conspiracy, he had participated in closed door Bayans (meetings) and also created multiple social media accounts, on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube, Telegram, WhatsApp, etc to upload posts intending to disclaim, disrupt the sovereignty and territorial integrity of India and to excite disaffection towards Indian Government, the NIA also said.
The attacks on Hindus and the rise of Islamic outfits in Tamil Nadu is nothing new. It may be recalled that back, in 2014 the police had arrested four persons in connection with the murder of Suresh Kumar a Hindu Mundane leader. The state has had the presence of outfits such as Al Umma, Al-Badr, SIMI for long. Today all these groups have merged into the Islamic State, a senior official that OneIndia spoke with said.
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A report of the Intelligence Bureau back in 2014 had said that there was a group of 50 persons whose primary agenda was to target Hindu leaders apart from expand in other parts of South India.
As recently as March this year, the Tamil Nadu Thowheed Jamath (TNTJ) was in the news after the Hijab row broke out. Three members of the TNTJ, Rahamatullah from Madurai, Covai Rahamathulla from Tirunelveli and S Jamal Mohammad Usmani from Thanjavur were arrested for threatening the judges of the Karnataka High Court over the hijab case.
The outfit's name had cropped up when the NIA filed a charge sheet against one Mohammad Naseer in 2016. Naseer was heading to Libya from Sudan, but was apprehended and later deported to India.
He did his computer engineering from the MNM college in Chennai. It was at this time that he would visit a mosque at Chennai which was run by the Tamil Nadu Thowheed Jamath, non-political Islamic Organisation that preaches a puritanical version of Islam.
In 2015, the NIA had raided three locations of the TNTJ for their alleged terror links. In 2015, the Chennai police booked an FIR against the group following a complaint by an American national who accused the group of assaulting him for attempting to convert Muslims to Christianity. In 2019, a member of the group Faisal was arrested for his hate speech against Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
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At that time the group had clarified, "we want to make it clear that the actions of these few individuals, who have been arrested, do not reflect the views of the TNTJ outfit as a whole in any manner. Further, we don't even resort to protests that go as far as road rokos as it would cause inconvenience to the common public. There are untrue messages being spread tarnishing the image of the TNTJ."