Tamil Nadu: A youth-led protest against Sikh identity targeting LS candidate Keezha Thattaparai was staged

On Tuesday, an independent candidate associated with the Bahujan Dravida Party (BDP) requested police protection, claiming that several youths in Keezha Thattaparai had made an effort to harm him. Asiriyar Shanmugasundaram Singh, 37, a candidate for Thoothukudi Lok Sabha who had just converted to Sikhism, filed a complaint with the Thattaparai police claiming that the youths had tried to physically harm him and verbally harassed him because of his religious identity.

Around six o’clock on Monday evening, Shanmugasundaram, who also filed a plea with District Election Officer/Collector G Lakshmipathy, said that the incident occurred when he was conducting a campaign in Keezha Thattaparai. The petition claims that when the candidate was walking off the street, a group of young people who had been hanging around the nearby bridge made fun of his Sikh heritage and attempted to stab him with a shattered glass bottle. He did, however, succeed in getting away, and he subsequently filed a police report.

Ajith of Keezha Thattaparai is the accused, and the Thattaparai police have filed a case against him in the meantime. In an interview with TNIE, Shanmugasundaram said that the accused had made the offensive remarks while intoxicated and mentioned that something similar had happened before while he was campaigning in Ottapidaram.

“A member of the public in Ottapidaram intimidated one of my supporters and requested not to publicize my election campaigning. In order to protect myself, I thus implore the police to choose a shooter,” Shanmugasundaram said.

It should be mentioned that the BDP has seven Sikh candidates running in the southern areas for the next elections. According to reports, they have been advocating for the need to guarantee social justice and equality in order to bring about change, as well as running campaigns to popularize the ideas of Kanshi Ram and Periyar.