TN This Week: Six Arrested in Coimbatore Blast Case, BJP Divided Over Bandh Call

The opposition to Hindi imposition has gathered momentum as several organisations, including 50 Tamil organisations, joined the protests. Besides, the student, youth and writers' organisations have announced protests and seminars highlighting the need to protect linguistic diversity.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) too held protests against the state government, accusing the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) of belittling the importance of Tamil.

The Coimbatore blast incident has been handed over to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) after the state police zeroed in on terrorist plots. Most of the political parties in the state have accused the BJP of escalating communal tensions, citing the incident.

The BJP state president, yet again, disrespected journalists, referring to them as monkeys, when he was questioned on the party stand on the Coimbatore blast incident.

Despite the restriction on bursting firecrackers, the air pollution in Chennai increased severely. At the same time, residents of 7 villages in the Tirunelveli district refrained from celebrating the festival against the implementation of solar projects in the region. Newsclick brings a roundup of the happenings this week.

ANTI-HINDI IMPOSITION PROTEST GATHERS MOMENTUM

The protest against the recommendations of the Official Languages Committee continues in the state. On October 26, lyricist Vairamuthu led a protest of around 50 Tamil organisations in Chennai. The writer accused the BJP of imposing Hindi through various means and suppressing other languages.

The Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) and Student Federation of India (SFI) held joint protests across the state, demanding the recommendations of the languages committee be dropped. The organisations claimed that the students and youth seeking employment would be highly affected.

The DMK has decided to hold public meetings in 70 centres on November 4 to explain the evil impacts of Hindi imposition. The party has decided to appraise the people of the resolution passed in the state assembly against Hindi imposition.

BJP'S SAVE TAMIL PROTEST

Even as the Union government, led by the BJP, is being accused of imposing Hindi, the state BJP held protests across the state demanding to save Tamil. The party accused DMK of promoting English and not doing anything for Tamil, which amused many.

POLITICAL PARTIES SLAM BJP

The Coimbatore car blast case has been taken over by the NIA after terror links were found. The state police have arrested six persons so far in the case. Reports have emerged of the NIA questioning the deceased, Jameesha Mubin, in 2019.

The BJP leaders in Coimbatore had called for a bandh on October 31, which has been slammed by most of the political parties. The BJP state leadership disowned the announcement in the court while submitting a response against the call for a bandh.

While other political parties called for peace and strong action on the perpetrators of the incident, the BJP has been accused of seeking political gain. The ministers of the DMK government slammed the BJP, which claimed that the government tried to suppress facts in the case, even as the state police caught hold of the suspects shortly after the incident was reported.

Governor RN Ravi questioned the delay in handing over the case to NIA, once again interfering in the functioning of the state government. The ministers hit back at the statement, informing that the central agency was part of the investigation from the beginning.

BJP LEADER DISRESPECTS JOURNALISTS

In yet another incident of throwing abuses at the journalists, the BJP state president K Annamalai compared them with monkeys for raising questions during his visit to Cuddalore.

Several journalist organisations and political parties condemned the BJP leader for his continuous tirade on the media persons. The BJP leader has courted controversy earlier as well, accusing journalists of being on the payroll of DMK.

TIRUNELVELI VILLAGERS OPPOSE PROJECT

Residents of seven villages in Manur taluk of Tirunelveli district did not celebrate the Deepavali festival, against the decision to acquire 1200 acres for a solar project. The residents claim that 350 of the 500 acres earmarked in these nine villages are panjami lands allocated to the people belonging to the scheduled caste (SC) community.

The government of Tamil Nadu and the State Industries Promotion Corporation of Tamil Nadu (SIPCOT) has announced the land acquisition, affecting the residents involved in cattle farming and acres of fertile land.

SANITATION WORKERS STRIKE ENDS

The sanitation workers of the Coimbatore city municipal corporation ended their strike after some of their demands were met. The strike began on October 25, the day after Deepavali stalled the cleaning works across the city.

The corporation has agreed to provide weekly off on a rotational basis, allocation of battery vehicles and permit workers to sign the attendance register till 7 am. The demands of the workers include the abolition of the contractual system, as there are only around 2,700 permanent workers in the 7,000-strong workforce of the corporation.

ARRIVAL OF SRILANKAN REFUGEES CONTINUE

Three more refugees from Srilanka arrived at Dhanusjkodi in Ramanathapuram district as the economic crisis in the country continues. All three belong to the same family from Jaffna.