Thevar Jayanti: Heavy police deployment in five TN districts

CHENNAI: Around 10,000 policemen led by senior police officers were deployed on Sunday in five districts in view of the Jayanti celebrations of Muthumaralinga Thevar, the revered leader of the Thevar community.

The celebrations were being held in the Pasumpon village in Ramanathapuram district on Sunday.

Policemen are deployed in Ramanathapuram, Dindigul, Madurai, Virudhunagar, and Sivaganga districts which have a heavy presence of the powerful Thevar community.

The AIADMK power struggle will also be reflected during the celebrations, as there is a feeling in the community that all towering leaders of the community, which has always been supporting the AIADMK, have been cut to size in the party. AIADMK deposed leader and former Chief Minister, O.Panneerselvam will pay his respects at Pasumpon village while the interim general secretary of the party, Edappadi K. Palaniswami will pay his respects in Chennai.

The Thevar community has not taken lightly the insult meted out to Panneerselvam after he was expelled from the party during its general council meeting on July 11.

The former interim general secretary of the AIADMK, V.K. Sasikala, and her nephew and Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) general secretary, TTV Dhinakaran were also expected to reach Pasumpon village. The jayanti celebrations of Muthuramalinga Thevar, according to Thevar insiders, will be a show of strength of the community before the political leadership.

Almost all senior leaders of DMK, AIADMK, BJP and Congress will congregate during the Thevar Jayanti celebrations as the community has a major sway in the five south Tamil Nadu districts, and in electoral politics it is very important to be on the right side of powerful community leadership.

South Zone Inspector General, Asra Garg will lead the police contingent comprising four DIGs and 34 SPs will be present across the five districts. 95 CCTV cameras have been installed across the districts to manage the crowd and 14 drones are also deployed.

While Chief Minister M.K. Stalin will not be attending the celebrations due to a medical emergency, senior DMK leader and water works minister, S. Duraimurugan will be overseeing the security aspects. Ministers P.T.R. Thiagarajan, K.N. Nehru and I. Periyasamy will also be present.