Tamil Nadu BJP leader Annamalai whips himself in protest against Anna University sexual assault

A barefoot Tamil Nadu BJP president K. Annamalai flogs himself outside his residence in Coimbatore on December 27, 2024.
| Photo Credit: S. Siva Saravanan

In protest against the sexual assault of a girl at Anna University in Chennai and wanting to oust the DMK government in the State, the Tamil Nadu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president K. Annamalai on Friday (December 27, 2024) flogged himself in front of his house in Coimbatore, barefoot.

Mr. Annamalai stood before journalists and thousands of party workers and whipped himself six times.

Later, speaking to journalists, he said the stir that the BJP has undertaken (on Friday) will intensify. This agitation is not against an individual but against the deteriorating standards of education, economic depletion, and police apathy in women safety issues. Citing the reason for self-flagellation, he said that by hurting one’s own self, he was punishing himself for having committed sin knowingly or unknowingly.

Recalling his days as a police officer, he said: “I had investigated a 10-year-old girl’s rape case and the case ended in successful prosecution. At that point in time, the girl’s mother asked me whether I will be able to give back her daughter.” This question made me travel in politics.

In the Police department, the question of a technical glitch resulting in the FIR leaking out has no room, he said. The FIR copies will be circulated to the court and the victim and no one else has the right to get the FIR. Releasing the FIR is a tool to silence the other victims.

Quoting the Chennai City Police Commissioner A. Arun, Mr. Annamalai wanted to know in what context the victim was quoted as saying the police action was satisfactory. The word satisfactory would be appropriate if the criminal had been imprisoned when he made the first attempt of sexual assault a few years ago.

“After deep deliberation, I took a decision not to wear footwear until the DMK government that has indulged in all wrongdoings is ousted,” he said.

He added that as a mark of respect for the departed former Prime Minister Manmohan Singhall protests by the BJP had been postponed.