The Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) on Thursday held a press conference discussing the burning issue of 17-year-old Lavanya’s suicide over the forceful conversion to Christianity in Tamil Nadu. In the presser, BJP Mahila Morcha President and MLA from Tamil Nadu Vanathi Srinivasan stated that the state BJP unit is not content where the probe is headed and has demanded a CBI investigation into the matter.
Since the unfortunate incident has taken place, the religious angle involved in the targeting of Lavanya, which ultimately led to her death has been conveniently ignored in the mainstream narratives in Tamil Nadu. Besides the media downplaying the missionary connotations in the case, it was also the administration that started harassing the man who took the video of Lavanya’s dying declaration.
However, the Madras High court had ordered the Tamil Nadu cops to ‘conduct themselves appropriately’ and passed an interim order for probing the cause behind Lavanya’s suicide and not the man who recorded her allegations. Since then, ‘Justice for Lavanya’ has created a massive outrage in Tamil Nadu politics with state BJP President K Annamalai leading the cause.
The BJP under the leadership of @annamalai_k ups the ante in Chennai, demands justice for Lavanya, the 17 year old who committed suicide under pressure from her school to embrace Christianity.
— Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya) January 25, 2022
The DMK Govt, which was denying the conversion angle has been forced to acknowledge… pic.twitter.com/S6b2Kv4l97
On Thursday, In a press conference held at BJP Headquarters in Delhi, BJP MLA Vanathi Srinivasan explicitly expressed that the state BJP unit does not have any faith in the investigation by the police and demanded that it has to be handed over to the CBI. She added, “The Education Minister has (declared) that the education ministry would also conduct an enquiry, in which he has not openly discussed the conversion angle involved. This again raises doubts about how the state government is dealing in this case.”
On behalf of her party, she said that the BJP is strongly apprehending this doubt and thus has come to a conclusion that a fair investigation would not be conducted by the TN government. She also stressed upon giving compensation to the victim’s family.
Furthermore, Srinivasan emphasizes the case for an act ‘to prevent the forceful conversions in the state of Tamil Nadu’ before the Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin. A national committee of four BJP Mahila Morcha members has been formed, which is tasked to meet the victim’s family and thence prepare a report on the case, which will be submitted to BJP National President JP Nadda. The committee includes BJP leader Sandhya Rai, MP from Madhya Pradesh, Vijayashanti from Telangana, BJP Maharashtra state VP Chitra Wagh and BJP leader Geetha Vivekananda from Karnataka.
Thanks Sh @JPNadda ji for constituting the team for #Justiceforlavanaya .
— Vanathi Srinivasan (@VanathiBJP) January 27, 2022
சிறுமி லாவண்யா மரணம் தொடர்பாக 4 பேர் கொண்ட குழுவினை @BJP4India தேசியத்தலைவர் அறிவித்துள்ளார். pic.twitter.com/WxcySDUSQz
While speaking at the press conference BJP spokesperson added, “When parents of the victim are crying for Justice in front of the Government of Tamil Nadu, those who fight for so-called women empowerment are absent” He also took a jibe at the Congress without taking the party’s name over giving ‘Ladki hoon Lad Sakti hoon’ slogans reminding its involvement in the state government as an ally.
The concern over the quest for Justice has made many rounds on social media. Many activists, politicians and intellectuals have demanded a fair probe in the case and justice for the innocent 17-year-old girl who died by a suicide attempt. With the press conference of BJP now demanding CBI enquiry, the issue has reached the national centre stage.
