Chennai, Dec 21 (KMS): A senior Tamil Nadu BJP leader has justifed deadly police firing at a recent protest in Mangaluru by saying authorities will respond in kind to attacks with guns or bricks.
“Our response to guns will also be through guns,” BJP national secretary H Raja said in Chennai on Friday, describing a demonstration against the amended Citizenship Act, a law critics believe deliberately discriminates against Muslims.
Two people — Jaleel, 49, and Nauseen, 23 — were killed in police firing in Mangaluru, a port city in BJP-ruled Karnataka, on Thursday.
“They wanted to kill hundreds of people. So police had no other go. They had to resort to firing,” said Raja, who has a history of making controversial remarks about everything from Kollywood cinema to the Dravidian icon Periyar.
The protesters’ intention, he said, “was to set the whole country on fire. The policemen were attacked.”
H Raja appealed to the Chennai Police to deny the opposition DMK party permission for an anti-CAA rally on December 23, and warned of violence.
He asked students not to participate in the protests but enjoy the Christmas holidays.
Countrywide protests against the Citizenship Act grew in intensity this week after the Delhi Police were accused of using excessive force against students in Delhi.
Several people have been killed in Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh and Assam in recent days.
