An enfant terrible of the BJP in Tamil Nadu, senior saffron leader H Raja, known for his acerbic criticism of the Dravidian parties and their leaders, has been convicted and sentenced to six months in two separate cases pertaining to his derogatory remarks made in 2018 against DMK MP Kanimozhi and issuing a threat to demolish statues of Dravidian icon, ‘Periyar’ EV Ramasamy.
Additional Special Judge for trying cases against MPs/MLAs, G Jayavel, found him guilty of making derogatory statements and threatening to raze down Periyar statues. Delivering the judgment in both the cases, the judge convicted and sentenced him to undergo six months imprisonment and a penalty of Rs 2000 in one case – and another six months and a fine of Rs 3000 in another case.
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The judge, however, stayed the sentence for 30 days, on an application from Raja’s counsel, seeking permission to file an appeal against the conviction and sentence.
In the wake of the razing down of Lenin’s statue in Tripura, Raja, in an ‘X’ post in 2018 had said that like Lenin’s statue, Periyar’s statues in Tamil Nadu would be demolished and likened the Dravidian icon as a casteist. The DMK and the Thanthai Periyar Dravidar Kazhagam (TPDK) have filed police complaints. In the same year at a public meeting in Erode, he had passed derogatory comments against Kanimozhi. Police have registered cases against Raja.
Earlier, Madras High Court had declined to quash the FIRs. Last year, Justice Anand Venkatesh had refused to quash them, observing that the BJP leader had the tendency to make unpalatable comments which landed him in a soup. Dismissing another petition from Raja this April, Justice G Jayachandran held that the cases were filed on factual evidence and he had to face trial. He also directed the MPs/MLAs court to dispose of the matters within three months.
Speaking to reporters outside the court, Raja, a former MLA, said “Filing such cases against ideological opponents is nothing new. It is political vendetta. We will challenge it legally.”
