Author: Chennaionline News Service
Publication: Yahoo News
Date: May 19, 2002
URL: http://in.news.yahoo.com/020519/54/1oeuu.html
The CPI national council member
and former Pondicherry minister, R Viswanathan, and six partymen were arrested
today in connection with the alleged attack on participants of a Sanskrit
coaching camp in Pondicherry Engineering College here.
According to the police, some volunteers
of the All-India Youth Federation, the youth wing of the CPI, led by Viswanathan,
entered the college where the 10-day free coaching course was organised
by Sanskrita Bharathi last evening and allegedly attacked the participants.
The secretary of the CPI state committee,
N Kalainathan, dismissed the charges and claimed that the partymen had
gone to oppose the camp, allegedly spreading the message of the RSS, and
said the camp was giving training in handling arms.
BJP Pondicherry unit secretary Ragu
Sundararaman described the alleged attack as "barbaric" and a result of
Viswanathan being defeated by the BJP in the last Assembly poll.
The BJP had written to the Lt Governor,
the Chief Minister, the IG of police and the Union Minister of State for
Home Vidyasager Rao on the incident.
He alleged that Viswanathan had
also threatened the college principal over phone against giving space on
the college premises to a Sanskrit teaching institution.
Over 100 persons from Kerala, Tamil
Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Pondicherry had enrolled for learning the language
in the camp which was sponsored under a scheme of the UGC, he said.
