Slippers came flying and landed on the windshield of Tamil Nadu Finance Minister Palanivel Thiagarajan’s car as he was leaving the Madurai Airport to go to his home.
The reason?
The heavy-headed foul-mouthed snob that he is.
Minister Thiagarajan on behalf of the Tamil Nadu government had gone to the Madurai Airport to pay respects to Rifleman D Lakshmanan (24), the Indian soldier killed in action in a fidayeen attack carried out by armed terrorists in Rajouri, Jammu & Kashmir.
The body of the slain solider hailing from T. Pudupatti village near Madurai, was kept at a pandal erected close to the Airport Director’s building to allow for VIPs and others to pay their homage.
BJP Tamil Nadu President K. Annamalai, along with BJP Madurai District President Dr. P. Saravanan and around 300 BJP cadres too had gone to the Madurai airport to pay their respects.
However, not all of them were allowed inside the airport due to restrictions and only Mr. Annamalai, Dr. Saravanan and a few others were allowed inside the airport premises.
BJP leader Annamalai and others were waiting for their turn to pay their respects as per the protocol which requires the Ministers, Collector, Superintendent of Police and other representatives of the State government to receive the body and lay the wreath.
At that time, DMK Minister Palanivel Thiagarajan (shortly PTR) who saw Mr. Annamalai and others waiting inside made unwarranated and unsavoury remarks unbecoming of the position he holds.
“What qualification do these paradesis (a derogatory Tamil word that roughly translates to moron) have to be present here? Who let them in?” PTR asked the officers present at the location.
There was a spat between members of the DMK and BJP as PTR had reportedly told the assembled BJP members that they can come only after he paid his respects and asked them to stay away.
Members of the BJP were humiliated and made to wait for a long time by the DMK Minister and Mr. Annamalai and others were allowed only after PTR left.
Upon coming to know of PTR’s snobbish attitude, the BJP cadres who were waiting outside the airport laid seige to PTR’s vehicle as he was about to leave the airport.
Eye-witness accounts from the scene note that, a visibly agitated PTR had angrily asked his driver to ram the vehicle on the BJP cadres and proceed. At that moment, one of them (reportedly a woman) threw a slipper at PTR’s car.
This had caused commotion leading to lathi charge by the Tamil Nadu police. Their lathis came on the BJP cadres indiscriminately injuring many. Many hooligans belonging to the DMK too joined.
That being the case, the DMK is now trying to project as if their Minister did no wrong.
That PTR behaving like a snob is no surprise as he is someone who is known for his condescending attitude and bragging about his privileged background. That he chose to be his usual self at the funeral service of a slain Indian soldier is what disgusts me as an Indian. Any Indian true to his salt would be disgusted.
PTR has the audacity to ask what merit does BJP leaders have to pay respects to the slain braveheart from Tamil Nadu.
I ask PTR – what merit does he have to pay homage to an Indian soldier of Tamil Nadu. Afterall, he is someone, who hails from a legacy of buttressing the British and has no qualms boasting about his Justice Party roots whose leader called Indian Independence day a black-day.
PTR must remember that he wouldn’t be where he is now if not for his father and grandfather. All the goodwill and reputation that people of Madurai have on PTR’s family will come crumbling down with his snobbish attitude. That day is not far. There is already growing resentment against him in his own government, his own party and even among his own people.
I challenge PTR to resign from his MLA post and re-contest again from the same Madurai Central Assembly constituency. Pretty sure that the people of Madurai would make him bite the dust.
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