Coimbatore: Terming it ‘ISIS-style’ hatred, the BJP on Thursday shared a shocking video clip of DMK workers allegedly beheading a goat with the picture of K Annamalai to celebrate their victory in the Coimbatore Lok Sabha seat. 

BJP National Spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla took to X and sought Tamil Nadu Police's intervention, saying that it's not ‘symbolic hatred, but an incitement of violence.' 

“Barbaric is an understatement… this is ISIS-style hatred. Political rivals slaughtered a goat with a picture of Annamalai to celebrate their victory in Coimbatore. Annamalai is the son of a farmer and his family rears goats. In the past, DMK has mocked Annamalai over Goat farming.”  

He added that if BJP workers did the same to an opposition member, they would call it ‘fascism’ but “from Bengal to Tamil Nadu when there is such vile and hatred, pseudo-liberals and ‘Save constitution brigade’ is silent. Will TN police act? Will the media report this? This is not symbolic hatred it is incitement of violence.” 

Annamalai Loses Coimbatore 

Tamil Nadu BJP chief and Lok Sabha election candidate K Annamalai faced defeat in the Coimbatore Lok Sabha seat against DMK rival Ganapathy Rajkumar who won by the margin of nearly one lakh votes. 

Annamalai, a former IPS officer of the Karnataka cadre, joined the BJP in 2019 and became the president of the party's Tamil Nadu unit in 2021.

After defeat, the IPS-turned-politician took to X and wrote, "I bow down to the people of the Coimbatore Parliamentary constituency & thank the 4.5 Lakh voters who bestowed their faith in NDA & BJP Tamilnadu. You believed in the vision of our Hon PM Shri Narendra Modi avl for his Viksit Bharat. You have given us historic votes in the history of Coimbatore PC for NDA, and still, we were short of the winning mark."

Congratulating the winning DMK candidate, he said, “I congratulate & convey my best wishes to the winning DMK candidate of Coimbatore, Thiru Raj Kumar avl. I take this opportunity also to wish the candidates from other political parties & the independent candidates who participated in the race to win the people’s mandate to be Coimbatore PC’s Member of Parliament. Finally, I assure the loving people of Kovai that we will double our efforts to win your love & mandate in the future!” 

The Election Commission data showed that Annamalai bagged over four lakh votes in the Coimbatore constituency, finishing second in the Lok Sabha election race.