Around 3 pm on April 10, 1995, Tamil Nadu Governor M. Channa Reddy had left the Raj Bhavan (now Lok Bhavan) for Pondicherry (now, Puducherry). When his convoy reached Tindivanam, a group of ruling AIADMK men hurled eggs and stones at it. The men were led by S.S. Panneerselvam, the party secretary for Villupuram Ramasamy Padayachiar district unit (present day Villupuram). They were angry that Reddy was entertaining the then Janata Party leader Subramanian Swamy, who had sought to prosecute Chief Minister Jayalalithaa (then spelt Jayalalitha) on corruption charges.
The Governor’s convoy was held up at Tindivanam-Pondicherry junction for over 15 minutes. Reddy called the District Superintendent of Police (SP), Vijayakumar, who was at the spot, and directed him to clear the road. The Hindu Cuddalore Correspondent reported that Mr Vijayakumar said the demonstrators threw stones and eggs, “which, however, missed the vehicles in the Governor’s convoy.”
The incident occurred when hostilities between Jayalalithaa and Reddy were common knowledge.
Report to Centre
The Governor promptly sent a report to the Centre attributing the hold up of his convoy to “alleged intervention of higher-ups at Madras (State capital)”. He concluded his report thus: “It is more than obvious that the demonstrations are being organised with the police help which is a sad commentary on and suggestive of the methods of the ruling party.”
When opposition parties criticised the attack on the Governor’s convoy, Revenue Minister S.D. Somasundaram claimed the AIADMK men had only assembled in a democratic manner to stage a demonstration against Reddy’s “encouragement” to Mr. Swamy to create trouble in the State.
Plea for recall
Endorsing this narrative, Jayalalithaa wrote to President Shankar Dayal Sharma and Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao urging them to recall the Governor. Accusing Reddy of acting with a “pre-meditated bias” she asked the Centre not to take seriously his “continued misreporting of events in the State.”
Disclosing the contents of her letters in the Legislative Assembly on April 19 that year, Jayalalithaa said the Governor’s “open espousal” of Mr. Swamy’s cause had further infused tension in the already vitiated atmosphere of Tamil Nadu following the sanction accorded by Reddy for prosecuting her.
According to her, the Governor’s own “unconscionable, unconstitutional actions” had rendered his position in the State totally untenable. ‘
Denying Reddy’s charges, she said, “They can only be viewed as a sinister, pre-mediated design to project a picture of chaos and breakdown of law and public order in Tamil Nadu as to enable him to make an eventual report for action against the State government under Article 356 of the Constitution.”
Jayalalithaa insisted all bandobust arrangements were in place along the Governor’s route on April 10 on the basis of intelligence reports. The district SP, along with a posse of police, had gone to Tindivanam to supervise the arrangements following reports that “about 1,500 AIADMK volunteers and general public” had assembled near the Government Guest House “to demonstrate with the intention of pointing out that certain acts of the Governor had injured democracy.”
As per her account, long before the Governor’s convoy reached the place, the crowd had been dispersed after a mild lathi charge by the police resulting in minor injuries to four persons. However, when the advance pilot car of the convoy came to the place around 4.25 p.m. about 300 persons rushed out from the nearby bus stand and took their position on one side of the road. But, this crowd also was dispersed and pushed to the roadside opposite to Veeranam guest house.
“Though the way was clear for the Governor’s convoy, Dr. Channa Reddy summoned the Superintendent of Police and told him that he could continue his journey only after the crowd on the roadside was fully dispersed. The police officer complied and made way for the Governor after lathi charging the crowd in which seven police personnel and 11 demonstrators were injured. The Governor then proceeded to Pondicherry. The situation was tactfully handled without any untoward incident. This was the fact,” she said. [The Hindu, April 20, 1995]
Letter to Chief Secretary
However, the Governor had written to the Chief Secretary claiming the SP had developed cold feet to handle the situation.
“The Director General of Police, in his report to the government, had refuted this. It was also not correct to say that fax messages were sent from the Governor’s side to several officers even before his departure to Madras. The Chief Secretary who was in the officers’ gallery in the legislature could have been easily reached. It was not clear why this was not done,” Jayalalithaa told the Assembly.
In her letter to the President and Prime Minister, she said allegations of police apathy, bureaucratic stupor and police-sponsored demonstrations made by the Governor “are contradictions in terms and have to be dismissed as petulant ramblings born out of pique.” She added, “The subjective satisfaction of an individual should also be subject to satisfying the requirements of truth.” The Governor’s “subjective conclusions,” according to her, “are partisan expressions made with the calculated and diabolical design of creating a record to eventually recommend the dismissal of the State Government.”
Jayalalithaa said the government had earlier maintained silence on the incident since it did not want to blow up a non-issue but she was constrained to reveal everything in the House.
Following a regime change in 1996, a case was booked against Mr. Panneerselvam and others and prosecution was initiated.
Published – January 07, 2026 05:30 am IST
