Chennai, Oct 29 (BPNS)
Tamil Nadu police is on high alert as the ‘Thevar Jayanthi’ celebrations are underway in several parts of South Tamil Nadu. Districts of South Tamil Nadu like Tirunelveli, Dindigul, Madurai, and Theni had witnessed clashes between two sections of people during the past several decades on caste lines and these areas are the strongholds of the powerful Thevar community.
The Thevar Jayanthi celebrations are held on October 30th as a commemoration of the birthday of Pasumpon Muthuramalingam Thevar considered an iconic figure in the Thevar castes. The celebrations are held at Pasumpon village, 50 km from Madurai, and several political leaders are expected to attend the celebrations.
Thevar Jayanthi celebrations are generally held for a week with the birthday on October 30th leading to the culmination of the celebrations and political parties including both DMK and AIADMK have tried to woo the powerful Thevar community. However mostly the Thevar community backing is with the AIADMK.
The state police is on a high alert in South Tamil Nadu with the possibilities of violence making a come back in the area. With four back-to-back beheadings in Tirunelveli and Dindigul districts recently, police have conducted massive combing operations and arrested several people from various caste outfits, and seized a huge cache of arms and weapons including firearms.
The state Director General of Police, C. Sylendra Babu himself had camped at Madurai and conducted meetings of police officers from the rank of Inspector General to the Station House Officer and directed all the small industries and shops that make and sell sharp weapons like axes, knives and other metallic objects to take note of those who buy the materials and to take down their contact numbers and provide to the police.
A senior police officer in the ADGP rank in Tamil Nadu police while speaking to BPNS said, “Police have deployed massive force in the sensitive areas of South Tamil Nadu and we are prepared for any untoward incident during the celebrations as there have been several instances in the past of bloody clashes between communities in the area.”
Central and state intelligence agencies have also alerted the state police to be on high alert as the areas of South Tamil Nadu had witnessed violent clashes and killings.
