BJP leader and former Tamil Nadu BJP president K Annamalai was detained by police in Tiruppur on Thursday (18 December 2025) as a preventive measure ahead of a planned protest against the dumping of municipal waste in the district.
The detention followed sharp remarks made by Annamalai criticising the State government and local bodies over what he described as systematic mismanagement of solid waste and alleged corruption linked to garbage collection.
Addressing supporters earlier, Annamalai alleged that garbage was being deliberately allowed to accumulate for monetary gain. “The more garbage gets piled up, the more kilometres the truck has to run. So, garbage is allowed to pile up in excess here purely for commission,” he said.
He further alleged that waste was not being recycled as claimed. “Nowhere is garbage actually being recycled. They dump it in the villages, and from there people will get one disease after another, from cancer onwards,” he said, adding that the public needed to clearly understand the consequences.
Annamalai said protests alone were not sufficient. “Today we can hold demonstrations, we can agitate. We can tear off the government’s mask and place it in front of the people. But for the people who have lost, what is the permanent solution? From tomorrow we must start doing the work that we really have to do,” he said.
Citing Swachh Bharat rankings, Annamalai claimed that Tamil Nadu cities performed poorly compared to other parts of the country. “Across India they did a Swachh Bharat survey of major cities with populations over ten lakh. Among all Indian cities of more than ten lakh people, Madurai is at the very bottom,” he said.
He added, “Madurai is ranked the last, at 28th place is Coimbatore, at the 38th place is Chennai—that is, when you look at filth. Among cities of three lakh people they listed 95 cities. Erode is 94th, Tiruppur is 77th.”
Annamalai accused DMK leaders of focusing on regional rhetoric instead of governance. “But what do the DMK politicians here do? They just call North Indians as vadakkan,” he said, pointing to Indore’s performance in cleanliness rankings. “Indore has taken first rank. It has taken first place in cleaning garbage. The very people from North India whom we insult are the ones who keep their cities clean,” he said.
He further alleged that “the ones who claim, ‘we are developed’ are the ones who have turned our cities into garbage forests, while the politicians here work only for commission.”
Following these remarks, Annamalai and other BJP workers were detained by police when they attempted to participate in a demonstration near the Kumaran statue in the Tiruppur Municipal Corporation area. According to police sources, the protest was planned to oppose the dumping of garbage collected from across Tiruppur city at the Chinnakalipalayam area in Palladam.
Police said permission for the protest had been denied, citing law and order concerns. As the demonstration was unauthorised, Annamalai and others were taken into custody as a precautionary measure to prevent any disruption.
Local residents have been protesting for over 30 days against the Tiruppur Municipal Corporation’s decision to dump waste at Chinnakalipalayam, raising concerns about environmental damage and public health risks.
Annamalai had announced his intention to join the protest around 15 days ago, but permission had been denied at that time as well. With the protest again scheduled near the Kumaran statue, police reiterated their refusal and detained those attempting to proceed.
Police officials said the detentions were carried out solely to maintain public order. Further details regarding the release of those detained were awaited.
“DMK mocks North Indian states, but the cities there are clean, while Tamil Nadu cities are dirty.”
– BJP leader K Annamalai pic.twitter.com/kp7aMCwqFi
— News Arena India (@NewsArenaIndia) December 18, 2025
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