BJP flays govt. for detaining farmers under Goondas Act 

BJP State president K. Annamalai on Thursday condemned the Tamil Nadu government for invoking the Goondas Act against a group of farmers who were protesting against land acquisition by the government for a proposed SIPCOT unit in Tiruvannamalai district.

While the farmers were staging a peaceful protest for over 100 days against the acquisition of land, the police arrested around 20 farmers earlier this month and remanded them in judicial custody.

Mr. Annamalai said the DMK government had stooped lower than he had imagined by detaining these farmers under the Goondas Act. Terming it “a cowardly act”, he said the State unit of the BJP would offer full legal support to the families of the detainees.