A group of saffron outfits have called for hartal in four western districts of Tamil Nadu on Friday to protest the alleged attacks on functionaries of a pro-Hindu organisation in Nilgiris district.
The hartal has been called in Coimbatore, Nilgiris, Tirupur and Erode districts.
The call has come close on heels of two peace meetings held in Coimbatore after communal tensions.
In the meetings, officials had appealed to the representatives of Muslim and Hindu organisations not to organise any form of protest at least for a month.
Last Friday, Hindu groups had organised a hartal in Kuniamuthur and Podanur areas in Coimbatore city to condemn damaging of a temple idol.
The Hindu outfits justified the hartal, saying it is necessary to pressurise the police to act against persons responsible for the attacks.
“We have been repeatedly stressing that functionaries of Hindu organisations are under threat. We called for the bandh as the recent attacks on our members are highly condemnable,” said C Subramaniam, state general secretary, Hindu Munnani.
Subramaniam claimed that a few persons from a particular community had assaulted a functionary of his group at Ooty on Sunday.
Subsequently on Tuesday, four members of the group were attacked.
Meanwhile, the Hindu Makkal Katchi has planned to conduct a procession in Coimbatore on Thursday.