'Dare you to touch me...': Annamalai challenges 'fascist DMK' to arrest him

State administration and the police have claimed that the videos showing labourers being attacked are fake and the two incidents occurred much earlier in Tiruppur and Coimbatore. "Both cases were not clashes between the people of Tamil Nadu and migrant workers," they said.

Minutes after being booked by Tamil Nadu police in connection with alleged attacks on migrant labourers in the state, BJP chief K Annamalai on Sunday (March 5) dared the MK Stalin-led DMK government to "arrest him within 24 hours", while also alleging that false cases are registered against him.

In a tweet, Annamalai said, "I understand DMK has filed cases against me for exposing their 7-decade propaganda against North Indian brothers.  So, here is the video of what they spoke, which was mentioned in my press release yesterday. I challenge Fascist DMK to arrest me!"

On Sunday, Chennai Central Crime Branch booked K Annamalai for spreading rumours of migrants being attacked in the state and inciting violence among the people. CCB Cyber Crime Division has booked Annamalai under sections 153, 153A(1)(a), 505(1)(b), and 505(1)(c).

"A case in CCB Cyber Crime Division u/s 153, 153A(1)(a),505(1)(b) IPC 505(1)(c) IPC registered against BJP State President Annamalai for inciting violence and promoting enmity between two groups," said Chennai Police said.

Messages with videos of migrant workers being 'attacked' were doing the rounds on social media. One such fake message was allegedly a tweet that claimed "12 migrants from Bihar were hanged to death in Tamil Nadu for speaking in Hindi," by Prashant Umrao, a spokesperson of Uttar Pradesh’s BJP unit.

State administration and the police have claimed that the videos showing labourers being attacked are fake and the two incidents occurred much earlier in Tiruppur and Coimbatore. "Both cases were not clashes between the people of Tamil Nadu and migrant workers," they said.

On Saturday, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin had assured his Bihar counterpart Nitish Kumar all migrant labourers in the state were safe and that the police had registered cases against two journalists of a Hindi daily for spreading rumours.

Deposed AIADMK leader O Panneerselvam said the state government was duty-bound to ensure the safety of the migrant workers and at the same time see to it that youth belonging to Tamil Nadu get employment in companies located in the state.