We The Leaders founder K. Annamalai on Wednesday said the BJP government at the Centre has forgotten that it has been in power for more than 12 years and still manufactures an enemy at all times to keep itself relevant.
In a lengthy post on X, Mr. Annamalai, formerly BJP Tamil Nadu president, posed a series of questions on the Centre’s handling of the Cockroach Janata Party’s (CJP’s) protest in New Delhi.
Referring to a statement made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2011, when he was the Chief Minister of Gujarat, that “if his hands were not tied, he would have gone to Delhi and waged war against the Central government,” in response to the police crackdown on the peaceful anti-corruption campaign led at Ramlila Maidan, Mr. Annamalai was of the opinion that Mr. Modi was “absolutely right.”
“Today, you could be jailed indefinitely; your surety bonds could be rejected; and, surprisingly, a Special Executive Magistrate will play circles around you when he or she is empowered to deal with preventive bond cases. If you question the violation of due process of law in a democracy, you would be called names, and a barrage of attacks would follow, including being labelled a foreign agent,“ Mr. Annamalai said.
According to him, ever since he asked the Centre to hold talks with anti-NEET protestors, he faced ”constant attacks.“ He said he let those pass and remained focused on issues in Tamil Nadu. “I also, in a way, enjoyed this as it would quickly remove the tag of me being a BJP B team and sent to Tamil Nadu as a Dhurandhar,” he said.
Mr. Annamalai claimed ever since he started questioning the methods adopted by the Delhi Police to detain CJP protestors, the “attacks” against him had resumed.
“For some in the BJP, let me make this categorically clear, in case you have selective amnesia: I left the BJP on June 5, 2026….I might not agree with the tactics of the CJP, and I think many of theirs are misguided. But if you ask me whether they have a right to oppose or argue or protest on an issue that they think is important? I would categorically say Yes,“ Mr. Annamalai said.
Referring to a recent incident in which a cockroach effigy was burnt as a part of Dusshera celebrations, Mr. Annamalai said, “Out of curiosity, I tried to find out who is giving this free publicity at a National level. No surprises here. It was led by a BJP MLA, Ashok Goel. My question again is: is the BJP opposing the CJP or giving it free publicity? Does it want the opposition votes to split by making CJP a bigger player? At this rate, the CJP couldn’t have asked for a better PR team, even if it had paid for one!“
He also said, ”It’s honestly very tiring and boring to see all protests and statements against the central government being called as anti-national and funded by forces outside.“
Published - October 21, 2026 09:05 pm IST