Chennai (Tamil Nadu): Bahujan Samaj Party's Tamil Nadu chief K Armstrong was hacked to death by a six-member two-wheeler gang near his residence in Chennai's Perambur on Friday.
Armstrong was chatting with friends and supporters when the assaulters launched an attack with deadly weapons. The assailants fled after inflicting grievous injuries. The BSP leader was rushed to the hospital but succumbed on the way. A day later, Chennai Police said they have held eight people in the case so far.
Armstrong's murder has triggered a wave of anger against the ruling DMK, as politicians and supporters of the slain leader censure the government over the 'deteriorating' law & order in the state. Police, so far, have ruled out any political angle to the killing.
His body was kept at the Rajiv Gandhi Government Hospital in Chennai and a post-mortem was conducted Saturday morning. The last rites are expected to take place on Sunday.
Who Was K Armstrong?
A native of Chennai, Armstrong lived in Venugopala Swamy Temple Street in Perambur. His father was a supporter of Periyar and Dravidian Kazhagam. Interested in politics since his school days, Armstrong studied law at Tirupati Venkateswara University and worked as a lawyer. In 2000, he started active politics and joined the Puratchi Bharatham party under the leadership of Poovai Murthy.
After Poovai Murthy's demise, he left the party in 2006 and started an organisation called Dr. Bhimrao Dalit movement with the youth of the area. Later, in the local elections held in 2006, Armstrong contested as an independent candidate in the 99th ward of the Chennai Municipal Corporation and became a member of the Chennai Corporation. Subsequently, he joined the Bahujan Samaj Party and was appointed as the party's state president in 2007, a post he held till his assassination.
Following the 2007 Madras High Court verdict in the 2006 Local body Elections case, 98 councilors of the DMK and its allies resigned on the orders of the then President Karunanidhi. Armstrong, a Bahujan Samaj Party councilor who was part of the coalition at the time, refused to resign.
In the 2011 Legislative Assembly elections, he contested against M.K.Stalin in the Kolathur constituency. In that election, he got a significant number of votes and got everyone's attention. He also contested the 2016 Legislative Assembly elections.
Armstrong was also involved in various criminal cases including assault and conflict. Later, he went to court and was acquitted of all the cases against him. However, in old crime cases, it is said that his victims formed different groups and waited to take revenge on him.
Armstrong's body will be kept at the premises of a private school in Perambur where leaders and relatives will pay their tribute. Sunday morning Bahujan Samaj Party National President Mayawati will pay her last respects to Armstrong.
Meanwhile, following the assassination of Armstrong, Mayawati, leader of the opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin, and others expressed condolences and condemnation over the incident.
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