A former Army jawan made controversial remarks during the BJP’s hunger strike organised in Chennai Tuesday to condemn the death of a serving jawan following an assault allegedly by a group of people, including a DMK councillor. Col B Pandian (retd), who now serves as a functionary of the BJP ex-servicemen wing in Tamil Nadu, claimed that R Chinnaswamy, a DMK councillor in the Nagojanahalli town panchayat, the accused in the murder of Lance Naik Prabhu, 29, had threatened the victim that he had the support of the ruling DMK government. Pandian added that if one looked back at the history, one would know it was not new for DMK functionaries to threaten or indulge in crime. “I am warning the Tamil Nadu government. The Indian Army is the second-largest army in the world and the most disciplined. If you provoke Army jawans, it is not good for Tamil Nadu, it is not good for the Tamil Nadu government. If you attempt to test us, then it will lead to law and order issues. I am saying it in a kind manner,” said Pandian. “The ex-servicemen here are experts in bombing, shooting and we are good at fighting as well. We know all these things but we don’t want to do them. I request the state government not to make us do these things. This is a warning,” he said. The hunger strike began near Omandurar government hospital at Anna Salai in Chennai and saw the participation of senior BJP leaders. According to the BJP, the strike was to condemn the killing of Lance Naik Prabhu and the attack on the residence of the party’s Scheduled Caste wing leader Tada Periyasamy. When reporters questioned his speech, Pandian defended his comments and said they would resort to such acts if incidents like this happened again. He added that the government should offer the accused the severest punishment for killing an Army man. The BJP is also planning a candlelight rally from Omandurar hospital to the War Memorial. Prabhu died at a hospital in Tamil Nadu’s Krishnagiri district on February 14 following an assault allegedly by his relatives. The Krishnagiri police arrested nine accused in the case and ruled out any political angle to the incident, terming it a petty dispute between two close blood relatives. While addressing reporters last week, Krishnagiri SP Saroj Kumar Thakur noted that Chinnasamy picked up a fight on February 8 near Pochampally with Prabhu over the use of a public water tank. The same evening, Chinnasamy and his family allegedly assaulted Prabhu, his brother Prabhakaran, who is also in the Army, and their parents. While Prabhu received a severe head injury and was admitted to a Hosur hospital, Prabhakaran sustained a minor injury.
