Compiled by MAHADHIR MONIHULDIN, TAN SIN CHOW AND R.ARAVINTHAN
A POLITICAL stunt by the Bharatiya Janatha Party (BJP) to garner Tamil support in India’s Karnataka state backfired when the singing of the Tamizh Thai Vaazthu was abandoned halfway, Malaysia Nanban reported.
Party officials had decided to play the Tamizh Thaai Vaazhtu (Mother Tamil Eulogy) as many Tamils were in attendance at the BJP event.
However, senior BJP official KS Eshwarappa, who was present, immediately objected to the song being played.
The song was then abandoned with just a few verses sung, and the event moved on.
Tamil Nadu BJP chief K. Annamalai, who was also on the stage at the time, immediately became the target of brickbats and mockery in Tamil Nadu for the humiliation and for not being able to control his party members.
Tamil Nadu ruling party DMK has demanded that BJP apologise for the disrespect shown to the Vaazthu.
As the Narendra Modi-led BJP has been trying to make inroads into Tamil Nadu, it has been organising campaigns promoting the Tamil language nationwide.
The above articles are compiled from the vernacular newspapers (Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil dailies). As such, stories are grouped according to the respective language/medium. Where a paragraph begins with a >, it denotes a separate news item.
