Petrol bomb attack: Did T.N. Raj Bhavan politicise it?

| Video Credit:
S. Shiva Raj

On October 25, a man hurled a petrol bomb directed at the campus of the Raj Bhavan in Chennai. The Molotov Cocktail fell on the road and exploded just before a steel barricade. The police were quick to step in and surround him but he had managed to lob another bomb. The police identified him easily.

He was Karukka Vinoth, who was involved in similar Molotov Cocktail attacks in the past. Some years ago, he was accused of hurling a petrol bomb at a TASMAC liquor outlet in Chennai. In 2017, he made a daring attack at the Teynampet Police Station. Last year, he was arrested by Chennai police after hurling a petrol bomb at the Tamil Nadu BJP office.

The Raj Bhavan incident happened just days after Vinoth was released on bail. Soon after this incident, the question on people’s minds was why the police did not put Vinoth under surveillance, given that he was a habitual offender. This issue would have confronted the ruling DMK government. It would have been cornered on the issue of law and order had not the Raj Bhavan stepped in to provide a counter narrative.

Six hours after this attack, the Raj Bhavan put out a statement on X: “Raj Bhavan was attacked today afternoon. Miscreants carrying bombs tried to barge in through the main gate. However, alert sentries prevented and assailants hurled two petrol bombs inside Raj Bhavan and escaped.”
We look at the words used in this statement, where the police failed, previous instances of petrol bomb attacks in Tamil Nadu, and if this incident was politicised.
Script and presentation: D. Suresh Kumar

Production: Shibu Narayan

Videography: S. Shiva Raj

Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu:

Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi on Monday claimed that great national freedom fighters like the Maruthu brothers and Muthuramalinga Thevar have been reduced to the stature of caste leaders in the state due to a political conspiracy to promote the British Dravidian narrative.

Celebrations commemorating their sacrifices have been privatised, he said.

“A concerted attempt has been made in this state to erase the history of this place, to write a parallel history. A false narrative on racial divide of Dravidian and Aryan was created,” RN Ravi claimed at an event here after paying floral tributes to a portrait of the Maruthu brothers, Periya Maruthu and Chinna Maruthu.

“Do you know who the father of Dravidian theory is? Who gave it? It was Robert Caldwell who created the hypothesis that Dravidian is a separate race,” the Governor said.

Robert Caldwell, a missionary, was a school dropout and over time he became an expert on languages, he added.

“It was the British design to divide the country and they picked up collaborators during the freedom movement,” he said.

A counter-freedom movement on Aryan and Dravidian divide was created during the Independence movement and it started destroying the institutions that defined this place, the Governor claimed.

But Tamil Nadu, RN Ravi said, was a land of great spiritual leaders, ‘siddhars’, ‘rishis’, and a land that produced a large number of warriors.

The Maruthu brothers were perhaps the first freedom fighters of India who ignited the national freedom movement long before others woke up to it, by giving up their lives and by providing a conceptual framework — Jambudweep prakatanam — for the whole of India, RN Ravi said, adding that the declaration was placed in Srirangam temple in Tiruchirappalli.

He recalled that two years ago, he received a list of Tamil Nadu’s freedom fighters containing less than 40 names and was disappointed to note that there was no mention of the Maruthu brothers. He wondered that if a small state like Nagaland, where he served as Governor earlier, could have more than one thousand freedom fighters, how come Tamil Nadu has only a handful.

Later on, he said, he learnt that there were several thousands of freedom fighters from the state who sacrificed their lives for independence.

He regretted that in 2012 a prohibitory order, citing a law and order incident resulting in the deaths of some people, was issued by the authorities, restraining people from assembling in large numbers from October 23 to 31 in Sivaganga district, where the Maruthu brothers carried out their activities and which was the centre of revolt against the British.

As a result, remembering the sacrifices of the Maruthu brothers has become a private affair, even 11 years after the unfortunate incident, the Governor said.

Muthuramalinga Thevar, another great national freedom fighter and associate of Netaji, has also been reduced to the stature of a caste leader, he added.

“I wonder if Mahatma Gandhi, Netaji Subash Chandra Bose, Sardar Patel and Bhagat Singh, too, would have been reduced to caste leaders had they been born in Tamil Nadu. Such is the situation here today. I think this is not acceptable,” he said.

Quoting a couplet from Thirukkural, authored by Tamil savant Thiruvalluvar, the Governor reminded that it was not virtuous on one’s part to forget to show gratitude to those who sacrificed their lives for our freedom. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Chennai:

In a fresh tussle between the Governor and the state government in Tamil Nadu, Governor RN Ravi constituted search-cum-selection committees for the selection of Vice Chancellors of Bharathiar University, Tamil Nadu Teacher Education University, and University of Madras.

Responding to this, Tamil Nadu Higher Education Minister Ponmudi in a release said, “Tamil Nadu Governor constitute search-cum-selection committees arbitrarily which is against University Law and norms. Tamil Nadu Government will face the Governor arbitrary move legally.”

“Under the Tamil Nadu Higher Education Department there are 13 universities which are all functioning with its own law and regulations. According to that, if the Vice-Chancellor position got expired then a search committee would be formed then the Vice-Chancellor position would be filled. The Governor does not have the regulations to constitute a Search committee to select Vice-Chancellor for the Universities which are all under the Higher Education Department,” Minister Ponmudi said in a statement.

“No Governor so far has constituted a search committee for Vice-Chancellors on their own. There are no regulations in rules for that. Only the Government will release the Order about the Search committee. Now the Governor has acted in an arbitrary way and has constituted search and selection committee for Vice-Chancellors. The governor constituted committee is fully against University Law and rules. The government will take this issue legally,” the Higher Education Minister added.

According to the press release issued by the Raj Bhavan, the constituted Search-cum-Selection Committee for the selection of Vice Chancellor of Bharathiar University, Coimbatore, comprises four Members: PWC Davidar, as Govemment Nominee or Convener, P. Duraisamy, former Vice Chancellor of University of Madras as Syndicate Nominee, G. Thiruvasagam, former Vice Chancellor of Bharathiar University and University of Madras, as Senate Nominee and B.Thimmegowda, former Vice-Chancellor, Bangalore University, as UGC Chairman’s Nominee.

The Search-cum-Selection Committee for the selection of Vice Chancellor of Tamil Nadu Teachers Education University, Chennai, comprises four Members: Sushma Yadava, Member, University Grants Commission, as Chancellor’s Nominee/Convener, K. Allaudin as Goverment Nominee, T.Padmanaban, former Vice Chancellor of Tamil Nadu Teachers Education University as Syndicate Nominee and HCS Rathore, former Vice Chancellor, Central University of South Bihar, as UGC Chairman’s Nominee, the release said.

The Search-cum-Selection Committee for the selection of Vice Chancellor of University of Madras comprises four Members: Battu Satyanarayana, Vice-Chancellor, Central University of Kamataka, as Chancellor’s Nominee or Convener; K.Deenabandu, Member, State Planning Commission, as Syndicate Nominee; P. Jagadeesan, former Vice Chancellor, Bharathidasan University, as Senate Nominee and HCS Rathore, Former Vice- Chancellor, Central University of South Bihar, as UGC Chairman’s Nominee, the press release mentioned.

The friction between the MK Stalin government and Governor RN Ravi is well-known in political circles.

Earlier in July, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin wrote a 15-page letter to President Droupadi Murmu saying that Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi’s various activities show he is not fit to be a Governor.

CM Stalin alleged that the activities of Governor Ravi were against the people of Tamil Nadu and the elected Government.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)