The Chennai police department had on Friday filed a case against Tamil Nadu BJP President Annamalai and hundreds of party cadres for violating the Covid-19 protocols. The state unit of the Central ruling party has organized protests across the state to urge the DMK government to reopen the temples, that have been shut down at the weekends owing to the pandemic spread. The government had also invoked the same order for all the religious places across the state.

As per the order of the government, every religious place must be closed every weekend from Friday to Sunday while the devotees are permitted to visit the places of worship during the rest of the days. However, the BJP has been demanding the government to open the temples for all days and on Thursday, the Central ruling party had held protests in twelve places across Tamil Nadu to urge the DMK regime to meet its demand. Several BJP leaders in the state had presided over the protests and state BJP President Annamalai had led the protests in Parrys, Chennai. 

During the protest, Annamalai said, "As per the provisions of Tamil Nadu Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department, the decision making authority of a temple is vested with the temple administration, not with the government. MK Stalin doesn't have any right to make a decision in this regard and what you (Stalin) are doing is injustice." Annamalai has stated that the BJP will intensify the protests if the government is refusing to open temples to devotees on all days. 

During the protest in front of Kalikambal temple in Parrys, which comes under the Harbour assembly constituency that has been represented by Tamil Nadu Minister for Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowment PK Sekar Babu, Annamalai said, "We are giving ten days for the government to withdraw its order and if it fails, we will take to the streets." He claimed that the DMK regime is trying to push its ideology into people's personal space and faith in the name of Covid-19 protocols. 

However, the Chennai Police had filed a case against Annamalai and over 500 hundred BJP cadres for breaching the Covid-19 protocols as the visuals from the spot had shown that the cadres were rubbing shoulders by taking a break from the government guidelines. According to reports, the Chennai police had filed a case against Annamalai and others under five sections for illegitimate protests and gathering more people.

On the other hand, the Nagercoil police department had also filed a case against BJP veteran and former Union Minister Pon Radhakrishnan for violating the Covid-19 protocols. The former Union Minister was leading the protests in Nagercoil with the demand of opening the temples and the police had booked him and over eight hundred BJP cadres for taking part in the protests. Several BJP leaders including party's MLAs Vanathi Srinivasan and Nainar Nagendran had also taken part in the protests at their respective constituencies.