BJP national secretary H Raja was among nearly 700 workers of the party and various Hindu outfits arrested Thursday for organising an event, without permission, in memory of victims of serial bomb blasts that rocked the city this day 21 years ago, police said.
Workers of BJP, VHP, Hindu Munnani and Bajrang Dal gathered at the RS Puram locality in the city and paid tributes near the place where the first blast had occurred in the evening ahead of senior BJP leader L K Advani's election rally on February 14, 1998.
Several other blasts rocked the city at different places, claiming 52 lives and injuring over 200 people.
Raja, Coir Board Chairman and former BJP MP C P Radhakrishnan were among those arrested for participating in the event for which police had denied permission. All were later let off, police said.
There was tight security cover in and around the area and all shops and commercial establishments in the vicinity downed their shutters.
Earlier, talking to reporters, Raja condemned the February 5 killing of PMK worker Ramalingam who fought against religious conversion in Kumbakonam.
Demanding a ban on Popular Front of India (PFI), he claimed it was time for rooting out Islamic fundamentalism from the soil of Tamil Nadu and bring in a legislation banning religious conversions.
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