BJP strike fails to impact life in Tamil Nadu, Puducherry

Normal life in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry was unaffected by the general strike called by the BJP Monday to protest the murder of its leader V. Ramesh, though several buses were damaged in stoning incidents, police said.

Tamil Nadu state BJP chief Pon Radhakrishnan, in a statement issued here, thanked political parties, traders and others for the support extended to the strike.

He said condemnation by all political parties of the murder of Ramesh has shown the resolve that there is no space for terrorism in the state, and urged all the organisations to ensure that such heinous acts do not happen again.

Shops in some districts in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry downed shutters and sporadic incidents of stoning of buses were reported.

A two-year-old girl was injured here when BJP workers stoned a bus.

Majority of the shops in Kanyakumari downed their shutters and BJP workers damaged several buses by hurling stones at them.

In the state capital, public transport and educational institutions functioned as usual while BJP workers demonstrated in the city.

Private buses in Puducherry did not ply, affecting commuters. Public and government buses ran with police security.

Ramesh, 52, general secretary of the Tamil Nadu BJP and a chartered accountant, was hacked to death by some unidentified men Friday night at Salem, around 340 km from Chennai.

Citing a pattern in killing of second-rung leaders of the BJP and other Hindu organisations in the state, the BJP called a general strike.

Tamil Nadu Police arrested some party cadres for protesting on roads in Dindugal, Theni, Sivaganga, Tiruchirapalli, Thanjavur, Tiruvarur, Ramanathapuram and other districts.

Meanwhile, the BJP's working committee member in Tamil Nadu Rajarajeswari died Sunday after she set herself afire to protest Ramesh's murder.